Hawaii state laboratory reclaims full certification

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally given the Hawaii state laboratory the OK after downgrading its certification status more than three years ago after an inspection found multiple issues with the condition of the building.

A report said the facility was in such poor shape that its condition was affecting sensitive instruments used for analyzing water samples, putting the health and safety of staff at risk and jeopardizing the preservation of important paper records.

However, the state Department of Health acknowledges that recent fixes to the facility are stop-gap measures and that the building is still in need of extensive repairs, including a new roof.

Earlier this year, DOH sought $100 million for a new facility, telling state lawmakers that the lab was old and not designed to accommodate the current volume of water testing or the high-security requirements to test for agents in a biological attack. The Legislature denied the funding, but did allocate $14 million for repairs.

DOH said that it continues to work on major capital improvement projects, including replacing the roof which is expected to be completed in the next two years. DOH denied the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s request to tour the lab and didn’t respond to a request to interview the lab director, Dr. Edward Desmond.

The Pearl City lab handles some of the state’s most important work, testing hundreds of drinking water samples annually to ensure compliance with safe drinking water standards and analyzing hundreds of water samples from the nearshore waters to make sure they comport with clean water laws. In the past the lab has handled testing for such calamities as the Ala Wai sewage spill in 2016, and over the past couple of years has processed thousands of drinking water samples taken from schools and child care centers throughout the state to test for dangerous levels of lead. The lab also played a crucial role during the pandemic, testing for COVID-19 and identifying the arrival of new variants.

Yet, the building has suffered from neglect for years despite the need for a pristine, climate-controlled environment.

Maintenance lacking

When Cynthia Williams, an EPA laboratory certification officer, visited the lab in May 2019 she reported that the lab staff was “exemplary,” but that the facility was in need of extensive maintenance, according to her on-site evaluation report provided by the EPA to the Star-Advertiser this month.

Williams found that the lab lacked adequate temperature and humidity control because the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system has been malfunctioning for two years.

She wrote that the lab was at times “too cold for comfort” and that she was warned prior to her visit that the temperature could dip down as low as 58 degrees.

“Some staff were observed wearing sweaters or jackets and/or using space heaters,” wrote Williams, adding that “staff were generous enough” to lend her a unit. “Some staff also complained of respiratory issues and headaches.”

Williams said that while touring the building, mold and mildew was observed on air vents, ceiling tiles, windows, doors, cabinets, log books and boxes.

“Some tiles showed signs of leaks, were missing (exposing conduits, cables and wiring), and a large number were warped,” she wrote. “One of the chemistry analysts reported that the ceiling tiles would occasionally fall.”

One day during her visit a chilling unit failed, causing a slippery and hazardous situation as moisture condensed on the hallway floors. Williams wrote that she was warned to walk carefully. Footprints could be seen on the floor because of the moisture and the vinyl floor in the microbiology lab was bubbling, she wrote.

Lab staff were using dehumidifiers, which were emptied daily, to minimize the effect of the humidity on their instruments.

Williams reported that the malfunctioning HVAC system had caused problems maintaining equipment at appropriate temperatures, particularly incubators.

“All of the microbiology methods have stringent temperature requirements for equipment such as refrigerators, incubators, water baths, autoclaving, etc.,” she wrote. “Fortunately, the incubator that is used for (drinking water) samples has been able to maintain the temperature required.”

Williams also found that most of the lab’s analytical data and records were in paper format, which were at risk due to the conditions.

The EPA subsequently downgraded the lab’s certification to provisional status for testing drinking water samples. The lower certification meant that the lab could continue testing, but it had to inform clients of its downgraded status.

EPA lab certification officers toured the facility again in May and lifted the provisional certification in August.

We “found that they had corrected the situation with the building,” said Peter Husby, the drinking water certification program manager for EPA Region 9. “I know that they still have actually a bit of work that they were going to do with the building, but the temporary fixes had taken care of the problem and we granted them full certification again.”

Husby said that the quality of the lab, in terms of instrumentation, methodology and staff, was excellent.

“We kind of felt like we were trying to help them make it clear to their management that they needed help with the building,” he said.

Ongoing problems

Just a few weeks prior to the visit by Husby this year, a whistleblower sent photos to the media showing equipment covered in plastic and brown stains on the drop-down ceiling, which was also missing panels.

“The roof leaks, the roof leaks badly,” the whistleblower told Hawaii News Now in a May 3 story. “On days of really heavy rain, it just pours in through the holes.”

DOH said that it has conducted mold remediation, replaced missing ceiling tiles, made short-term roof repairs to fix some of the leaks and repaired the HVAC system. But longer-term repairs are needed. DOH says that it’s working to replace the roof in the next couple of years and overhaul the HVAC system with the $14 million in funding from the Legislature. DOH said it would also use the money to buy new equipment and improve its “information infrastructure.”

“The State Laboratories Division continues to make improvements to its Pearl City laboratory,” DOH spokeswoman Kaitlin Arita- Chang said by email. “These improvements have not impacted SLD’s ability to perform clinical and environmental testing.”