Federal environmental protection officials have set new monitoring rules and deadlines for the city to complete improvements at Waimanalo Gulch Landfill, nearly a year after the uncontrolled release of stormwater swept refuse strewn with medical waste into the ocean along the Waianae Coast.

The city failed to comply with its state stormwater permit on at least three occasions from December 2010 through January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

A storm in mid-January brought some 11 inches of rain in two days to parts of Oahu, sending runoff down the gulch that mixed with waste at the landfill. Refuse, including medical waste, washed into the ocean.

The EPA said the new monitoring rules are intended to increase accountability.

According to the agency, the city will have to take water samples and conduct tests each time stormwater from the landfill enters the ocean.

It must also issue monthly sampling reports starting Jan. 15.

The state health stormwater permit now allows city officials to issue a report once a year.

"They just have to do it more frequently," said David Wampler, an EPA compliance official.

Wampler said the city is required to provide an enhanced stormwater monitoring plan by Jan. 2 and to provide a report by Dec. 15 on the progress of controlling storm water runoff.

The agency set the deadline for today to complete a construction project under way to control stormwater runoff.

Wampler said there was no monetary penalty attached to the agency’s findings.

City environmental services Director Tim Steinberger said the city and landfill operator Waste Management Inc. are evaluating the deadlines imposed by the order, and much of the work mentioned by the EPA is under way.

Gary Gill, deputy health director for the environment, said the deadlines and new rules are a "good thing" because they provide a way to measure progress and provide transparency for the activities at the landfill.

Gill said since the flooding at the landfill, the city has been very cooperative with the state and EPA.

"This compliance agreement is just the next step to assure all the necessary improvements to the landfill are completed appropriately and in a timely fashion," he said.

Work is under way on a project to divert floodwaters around the landfill by way of a box culvert and fiberglass pipes.

Absent that, the landfill was awash in January’s heavy rain.

"It created a mess," Gill said.

Gill said he visited the landfill Tuesday and found the diversion project functionally complete.

"If we had a new rainstorm today, the landfill would not flood as it did last year," he said.

Carroll Cox, head of an environmental watchdog group, said government officials should be more aggressive in their monitoring, especially in light of the likelihood that the landfill will continue to be used beyond its scheduled closure in 2012.

Cox said the timeline for testing water samples should be short and people should be warned if there is a risk to public health.

"We’re talking about tours operating, people snorkeling and swimming right out there," he said.

According to the state Clean Water Branch, warning signs are posted on the beaches whenever state inspectors are notified about runoff into the ocean occurring at the landfill, and samples of ocean water are taken on the same day.

But the branch said the review of test samples sometimes takes several days, if not longer.