EPA orders city landfill operator to clean up and make improvements
A worker filled trash bags yesterday as teams hauled away debris — including medical waste — that flowed onto the Ko Olina Resort from the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill after this week's rain.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the operator of the city’s only landfill to clean up contaminated storm water on site and make necessary improvements to ensure there isn’t a repeat of the Jan. 12 incident that sent water with medical waste and other contamination into the ocean and onto West Oahu beaches.
Operator Waste Management Inc. has already begun corrective action with guidance from the city, but the EPA’s administrative order today sets a specific schedule for the required improvements.
There are no fines levied, but that could change if Waste Management fails to meet its deadlines, said EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi.
West Oahu beaches reopened Sunday after no waste had been found for several days.
The city estimated about 200 million gallons of polluted runoff flowed into the landfill. It has remained closed but is expected to reopen Thursday.
