The nearly two weeks total when city wastewater officials logged excessive bacterial levels in effluent piped into Kailua Bay recently prompted state health authorities to warn the public away. Bacterial counts since have fallen and stayed at allowed levels since May 5.
But whether the public can expect this problem to be avoided, going forward? There’s a lot less reason for confidence there.
City authorities should lay out and follow a specific timeline for installing permanent fixes at the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. And the state’s overseeing health officials need to step up their pressure to see that the city does just that.
The state Department of Health (DOH) did issue an advisory, warning the public about enterococcus bacteria that could affect people engaged in recreation in the bay for the 13 days — between April 8 and May 4 — that effluent did not meet required standards for treatment.
And the degree to which the limits were surpassed are appalling. Bobbie Teixeira, a DOH environmental health specialist, said that “on some days, they were exceeding by four, five, six times their permit limit, so it is unusual.”
Enterococcus is a type of bacteria that signals the presence of fecal material in water, along with the pathogens it carries with it, which can sicken swimmers.
And especially since Kailua has become a major attraction to tourists over the past several years, this popular resource continues to attract many swimmers, paddlers and kitesurfers — residents and visitors alike — who spend hours in the gentle waves each day.
The wastewater treatment plant operates under a permit, under the regulatory supervision of the Health Department. This week, Teixeira asserted that compliance with the permit is the city’s responsibility, calling it “very concerning” when that legal obligation is not met.
In addition, this plant already has been a concern of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In December, the EPA entered into an order on consent with the City and County of Honolulu to ensure its pollutant discharge requirements are met.
EPA officials said that the origin of one exceedance, which occurred in January 2021, was a failure at one of Kailua’s two biotower treatment units. The city then posted beach warning signs at the direction of the Health Department.
However, the problem is evidently persistent — and islandwide. At this particular sewage plant, discharge also exceeded bacteria limits in June 2020, April 2021 and December 2021.
In order to curb recurrences here, the EPA order included requirements to:
>> Increase monitoring for bacteria to ensure water quality is protected and the facility complies with its Clean Water Act permit;
>> Perform a condition assessment and maintenance evaluation of wastewater treatment units to prevent additional failures; and
>> Develop and implement an operations manual to optimize bacteria removal treatment. City officials have acknowledged that the plant lacks a bacterial disinfection process and is being upgraded accordingly.
Compounding the Kailua problem, the neighboring Marine base plant also has exceeded limits and is under its own order to improve.
Already, in a separate, broader EPA consent decree issued in 2010, the City and County of Honolulu is required to upgrade its wastewater collection sewer system, sanitary sewers and the Sand Island and Honouliuli wastewater treatment plants. All of this is due to be completed by 2035.
The law has been laid down but must be enforced more firmly. Starting with Kailua, the public should expect the state to press the city for disclosure of how and when its wastewater treatment system will be improved and working as it should.
