City was told in 2004 sewer line 'critical'

State and federal officials are reviewing an upgrade order

The Waikiki sewer line that dumped almost 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal before it was repaired last Thursday was identified a year and a half ago as "extremely critical" and in need of a backup line in case it failed.

The 42-inch Beach Walk force main was one of seven that consulting engineers Fukunaga & Associates Inc. recommended in an October 2004 report that the city should have "redundant" lines so that if the pressurized lines failed, there would be an alternate way to route the sewage.

The Fukunaga report was part of the city's response to an April 15, 2004, order from the state Department of Health that the city assess the condition of all its force mains, outline a program to upgrade and repair them, and create contingency plans in case they failed.

The order was in response to 23 sewage spills from force mains reported by the city between November 1996 and April 2004, spilling a total of 8.4 million gallons of raw sewage.

Whether the city has complied with the conditions of that order is under review by the state Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA has asked for a report on the city's latest, largest spill, which sent 48 million gallons into the Ala Wai Canal over six days, City Environmental Services Director Eric Takamura said yesterday.

Of seven city sewer lines that should have backup lines, the Beach Walk force main that failed March 24 was the oldest, the largest and one of three located in a highly populated area, the Fukunaga study said.

The line, built in 1964, was described in the study as "extremely critical, with high flows, susceptible to corrosion, very old, with limited contingency provisions."

Takamura said yesterday that the EPA knew, and approved, of the city's contingency plan to discharge sewage into the Ala Wai Canal if the line failed before a scheduled replacement could be built.

Meanwhile, water-quality samples taken Tuesday and analyzed yesterday showed that bacteria levels offshore from Waikiki beaches have continued to decrease since the spill was stopped, said Watson Okubo, the state Health Department's head of water-quality monitoring.

Single samples taken Tuesday at the Moana Hotel and Kapahulu Groin show bacteria counts at higher than the state standard, 7 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters of water. But that standard is applied to the "geometric mean" of several samples, Okubo said.

"It's not something a lay person can just look at the numbers and come up with a decision," Okubo said. "That's why it's very difficult to explain."