Editorial: Clean up cesspools in Hawaii

In the aftermath of heavy rainfall, government-issued brown-water advisories routinely warn that murky runoff may include various sorts of debris including sewage pollution.

Much of the sewage problem stems from overflowing cesspools — a glaring environmental flaw in Hawaii, which has by far the nation’s largest count of this crude hole-in-the-ground set-up for discharge that can contaminate groundwater and ocean waters, as well as beaches and coral reefs.

Rightly prompting fixes is U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement action. This week the federal agency slapped the state along with Honolulu and Hawaii counties with fines and required closure of three cesspools that operated in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Two are large-capacity cesspools at Oahu’s Helemano Plantation, a restaurant-gift shop-farm operation owned by the state and leased by the city. Honolulu has agreed to pay a $135,000 penalty. The city reported that it worked with a nonprofit that sublets the property to close the cesspools by late March.

On Hawaii island, a cesspool at Kainaliu comfort station in Kealakekua discharges to a large-capacity set-up. Hawaii County has agreed to pay a $133,000 fine and close the cesspool by the end of the year. With widespread use dating back to the plantation era, there are an estimated 88,000 cesspools in the islands — with more than half located on Hawaii island.

The federal government banned the large-capacity type 15 years ago. And in 2017, state legislation was enacted requiring replacement of all cesspool types here by 2050 — either by way of an upgrade, such as to a septic system, or connection to a sewer system.

Earlier this year, two bills that could help property owners make the switch to a more environmentally sound system stalled in the Legislature. One would establish a pilot project to demonstrate new sewage treatment technologies. Another would launch a pilot grant project to assist low- and moderate-income households with upgrade or conversion costs.

The Hawaii Department of Health’s Wastewater Branch estimates that cesspools release some 53 million gallons of untreated sewage — complete with disease-causing pathogens and algae-causing nutrients — into the ground daily.

For the sake of making long-overdue progress toward ridding Hawaii of cesspools, which pose constant public health and environmental threats, state lawmakers should again consider these bills and other cleanup proposals next session.