A Honolulu City Council resolution meant to uphold a more than 20-year-old city policy over solid waste landfills and their proximity to Oahu’s drinking water supply has advanced.
Introduced by Council Vice Chair Matt Weyer and Council member Radiant Cordero on Jan. 2, Resolution 3 is meant to reaffirm a prior Council’s 2003 policy against siting landfills near underground freshwater sources.
That year, Resolution 9 was adopted by the Council to safeguard Oahu’s important water resources.
Weyer, whose Council District 2 includes Wahiawa as well as the North Shore, offered this legislation in the wake of the city’s announcement that the city’s next dump may be sited in his district, on agricultural lands and directly above the island’s aquifer.
“I want to acknowledge that this is really about protecting our drinking water and not identifying the final location of the landfill,” he said Tuesday during the Council’s Committee on Housing, Sustainability, Economy and Health meeting.
On Dec. 10, Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration announced its intent to site the city’s next dump on active agricultural land owned by Dole Food Co. Hawaii near Wahiawa.
The site — west of Kamehameha Highway and north of Paalaa Uka Pupukea Road — is also about 800 feet above Oahu’s freshwater aquifer, according to Board of Water Supply Manager and Chief Engineer Ernie Lau.
The city contends a new landfill on Oahu is necessary, allowing it to continue to handle the island’s estimated 225,000 tons of solid waste and related materials it puts into its dump each year.
City officials say they hope to negotiate a purchase of about 150 acres — the amount of land needed for a solid waste landfill — out of what they described as an approximately 2,360-acre parcel now owned by Dole.
City officials say their actions are due, in part, to a state-imposed Dec. 31 deadline to find an alternate site, ahead of the planned closure of the 35-year-old Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in Kapolei, in accordance with a 2019 decision and order by the state Land Use Commission.
That West Oahu dump is set to close in 2028, though the landfill will not reach full capacity until 2032, the city said.
Dole has publicly stated opposition to the city locating a landfill on its actively used pineapple fields in Wahiawa.
At Tuesday’s meeting, city Managing Director Mike Formby responded to the controversy over the planned landfill as well as an informational briefing Lau provided to the committee earlier that afternoon.
Lau’s presentation — largely identical to one he’d given Jan. 7 to a joint committee of state lawmakers at the Capitol — offered multiple reasons why a landfill would not be legally allowed above Oahu’s aquifer, including leachate contamination that can pollute the island’s freshwater sources.
Lau said Wahiawa’s annual rainfall amounts — which on average far surpass rainfall that occurs at the current Waimanalo Gulch landfill in drier West Oahu — could more easily allow greater amounts of leachate to percolate down to the island’s aquifer.
Still, BWS must evaluate the proposed landfill site and, based on its proximity to potable water sources, may approve or reject the proposal.
Previously, BWS objected to the city siting a landfill within its so-called “no-pass zone,” an area that covers the interior of the island where Oahu’s potable water aquifer is located.
Meanwhile, Formby noted the city wants the state Legislature to change a state law, Act 73.
The 2020 law places restrictions on locating waste-disposal facilities, particu- larly those close to conservation lands or half-mile “buffer zones” near residential areas, schools or hospitals, as well as near airports or tsunami inundation zones.
City officials have said amending Act 73 could do one of two things: reduce buffer zones to a quarter-mile or eliminate them altogether, thereby opening up more land for potential city dump sites.
Such a legislative change could take time, however. And, according to Formby, state lawmakers may reject the proposed changes to that state law.
“So we chose the first path, over the aquifer, and to do it safely,” he said.
To that end, he said city Environmental Services Director Roger Babcock has proposed “two membrane barriers,” or dual liners, underneath the landfill to prevent contamination leaks into the island’s fresh groundwater supply.
The managing director also disclosed that he had met with Dole on Tuesday over use of its land for a new dump.
“We had a very good discussion with Dole in my office. They understand what we’re trying to do. They offered some other properties to us over the aquifer,” Formby said.
But Council Chair Tommy Waters related the “significant” cost in developing a new city landfill on Oahu, an amount he claimed would total $750 million.
“Honestly, it’s a tough budget year, and we’re probably going to have to spread that over a bunch of years. How do we solve that problem?” Waters added. “And I really don’t expect an answer. That was more of a question, but gee whiz, how do we come up with that kind of money? It’s tough. So we’ve got to work together to figure this out.”
In response, ENV Director Babcock explained that the city’s cost estimate to develop a new landfill was far less than what Waters quoted.
“At one point there was $200 million budgeted, but that was kind of a big number, a big placeholder, with real uncertainty about what the land would cost,” Babcock said. “So I think we really don’t have a better number than $200 million at this time, but it’s probably less than that. So, I think that’s what I can say at this point.”
Waters disagreed.
“I’m a little scared when we talk about actual figures because I don’t want to create an expectation early that it’s going to only cost $200 million,” Waters said, “and then have to come back and say, ‘Wait, just like the rail is $5 billion (and) now it’s $13 billion,’ and everybody gets upset.”
Design costs, labor costs and prevailing wages, and other expenses would add to the landfill project, he added.
“But if you can pull it off for $200 million, you’re going to be a hero,” Waters said. “But I’m just thinking that’s going to be a tough number.”
Babcock replied, “We’d be happy to work on that number and get back to you folks once we are able to have a better idea.”
“It’s important to identify the site, and then we can really start that process,” he added.
Ultimately, the committee recommended that the full Council adopt Resolution 3.
Before the vote, Council member Esther Kia‘aina successfully offered an amendment that noted the city’s desire to acknowledge Act 73, when considering more landfill site options on Oahu.
Correction: Honolulu City Council member Esther Kia’aina’s amendment relating to Resolution 3 would acknowledge Act 73, an existing state law that if amended by the Legislature could open up more lands for potential city dump sites. An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the amendment.
