Hawaii County’s practice of dumping treated sewage into a permeable pit less than one mile from Honokohau Harbor on the Kona Coast has long troubled environmentalists, harbor users and those concerned for culturally significant Hawaiian sites surrounding the harbor. But the county government has resisted repeated calls to ensure that its Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant isn’t contaminating and degrading ocean waters and the marine environment.
On Monday, Hui Malama Honokohau, a group including Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, fishers, paddlers and other recreational ocean users, sued the county, in partnership with the environmental legal nonprofit Earthjustice. They charge that the county is violating the U.S. Clean Water Act by dumping its treated sewage into the ground, where it eventually flows into Honokohau Harbor. They have a strong case.
Given the value and significance of this area, the county needs to stop stonewalling and get moving on a plan to ensure its wastewater does not and will not pollute the ocean. To ignore the problem potentially endangers the turtles, manta ray, corals and other marine life that draw people to the harbor and nearby coastal waters for snorkeling and diving, fishing and limu gathering.
Failing to act also exposes the county to costly litigation, taking a risky bet instead of doing the right thing.
The lawsuit against Hawaii County closely resembles a suit filed against Maui County for discharging treated sewage into injection wells that dispersed wastewater into the ocean, filed by environmental advocates in 2012. Maui County fought it, and when the county lost, appealed the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it lost again in 2020.
The end result was that Maui is required to obtain a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, ensuring that Clean Water Act standards are met. That’s the same remedy being sought in the Hawaii island lawsuit.
Meeting Clean Water Act requirements would likely require either diversion of the water for irrigation or other use, or upgrades to the sewage plant to more thoroughly filter discharge. And changing procedures will have a cost. But litigation is also costly: Maui County spent millions of dollars on attorneys by stubbornly fighting its case through multiple appeals, including approximately $1 million awarded to Earthjustice for its court costs.
The better choice is to comply with federal rules that protect Hawaii’s waters from pollution, rather than duck responsibility via the courts.
Hawaii County dumps about 1.7 million gallons of contaminated wastewater each day from its sewage plant, built in 1993, and has been releasing treated sewage into the pit since the plant began operating. Multiple studies show that treated sewage seeps into groundwater below the pit, then flows into nearshore ocean waters, including the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.
The lawsuit claims this affects water quality in the harbor. Wastewater contains nutrients that can cause invasive algae blooms, threatening the bay’s coral reef ecosystems. And the wastewater, which is not disinfected, is the suspected cause of staph infections suffered by people using the harbor and surrounding waters.
When the Kealakehe plant was built 30 years ago, the plan was to use the treated wastewater for irrigation of a proposed municipal golf course nearby, but the course was never built. Co-plaintiff Hui Malama Honokohau has called for the county to recycle the wastewater for irrigation or other uses, such as firefighting, instead of dumping it into the ground, and this should be pursued.
Hawaii County has lately proposed building a pump station that would bring even more sewage to the Kealakehe plant from North Kona, as the community grows. Before continuing to take risks with the integrity of coastal waters, it must work with federal regulators to ensure it is keeping the ocean clean. As Mayor Mitch Roth, who assumed office in 2020, has made sustainability and environmental protection a focal point of his tenure, this should be an easy decision to make.
