Hawaii County gets
federal aid for cesspools
Hawaii County has been awarded $76,000 in federal funds to identify and replace large cesspools on the island, the Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday.
All "large-capacity" cesspools in the state must be closed by April 5, 2005, the EPA said in a news release. The agency has prohibited construction of large-capacity cesspools since April 5, 2000.
A large-capacity cesspool is defined as a hole in the ground that receives untreated sewage from 20 or more people a day, or daily flows exceeding 1,000 gallons.
The EPA has identified more than 2,000 potential large-capacity cesspools in Hawaii and has been working with county, state and federal agencies to begin closing them.
Alternatives to large-capacity cesspools include hooking up to available sewer systems or using a large-capacity septic system or a waste-water package plant to treat the sewage before disposal into the ground, the EPA said.