EPA allows storm-battered Honolulu dump to reopen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the reopening of Honolulu’s Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, but with conditions.
In a statement Friday, the agency says it recognizes the risk to public health from the mounting accumulation of waste throughout Oahu.
The city landfill has been closed since earlier this month when its water diversion systems could not handle heavy rain runoff.
That led to medical and other wastes flowing into the ocean, which prompted the closing of nearby beaches.
The EPA’s conditions restrict the location of trash dumping within the landfill and requires its operator, Waste Management Inc., to submit a contingency plan on how the site will manage future storm waters.
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