City has paid $280,000
so far to satisfy EPA
The city has spent $280,000 so far to comply with an Environmental Protection Agency order to improve operations at its Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant, Environmental Services Director Frank Doyle said yesterday.
The EPA had cited the city for not having meters to measure the volume of incoming raw sewage or treated effluent going into the ocean. The lack of accurate measurement meant that the city's testing of effluent quality was not accurate, either, federal officials said.
The federal agency threatened the city with up to $25,000 a day in fines for this and other violations, including odors from the plant, improper use of recycled water and leaking gate valves on effluent channels.
Doyle said it could cost the city millions of dollars to correct the violations. The Honouliuli plant processes 26 million gallons of sewage a day, Doyle said, of which 10 million gallons a day is treated to a level that it can be sold as irrigation water.
The city's response to the EPA order was mailed to the San Francisco regional office Friday, said Doyle, who made a copy available to the Star-Bulletin yesterday.
Flow meters have been installed where the EPA wants them, at a cost of about $280,000, Doyle said. These meters will allow the city to provide the EPA with the accurate measurements, he said.
Doyle said the city has been trying for eight years to find a flow meter that would work. A series of models have been unsuccessful, he said. The new one was installed last week.
Replacement of the plant component that is causing odor problems for the neighborhood will not begin until 2005, Doyle said. Though its cost has not been estimated, it will be in the millions, he said.
Doyle noted that despite its lack of meters, the Honouliuli plant has been in compliance with standards for effluent.
State Clean Water Branch environmental engineer Libby Stoddard confirmed that yesterday and said the state received a copy of the city's filing to the EPA but has not reviewed it.
The EPA was not available for comment yesterday.
The city has been working on renewal of its EPA waste-water permit since it expired in 1996, Stoddard said.
The Honouliuli plant, which serves the area from Kapolei to Pearl City, was built in 1983. The Sand Island Wastewater Treatment plant, which was built in 1977 and serves Honolulu, is undergoing $348 million worth of improvements required by the EPA.
