4/29/2024 0 Comments 7.0.3 beats update![]() With about 11,000 cesspools on Oahu, that means the city could receive roughly $13.2 million each year in cesspool pollution fees – not a huge amount relative to the task, which could cost about $50 million for some projects. In Honolulu, that amount is about $100 per month. The fee would be limited to the amount counties charge people for using their respective sewer systems. Maui’s Department of Environmental Management testified in opposition. Other supporters include two Hawaii County Council members, the Kauai Department of Public Works and the Maui Chamber of Commerce. The Nature Conservancy also supported the bill in written testimony, as did Hawaii Realtors and the Hawaii State Association of Counties. “Funding will be essential the costs are very high for either sewering or upgrading on-site systems,” the Surfrider Foundation wrote in support of the bill. A cesspool pollution fee would allow them to dole out grants and low-interest loans to low-income households that want to convert their cesspools. HB 2743 would bring in county governments as partners. “But they don’t have manpower to really do anything – or, they can’t make a plan because they don’t do wastewater treatment. The state Department of Health is in charge of regulating the state’s 83,000 cesspools. He said at the time that he planned to talk to state officials about how to get the ball rolling faster. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)īabcock said in October that the state’s 2050 deadline to convert cesspools was off to a slow start. ![]() House Majority Leader Nadine Nakamura, seen here speaking during a January Civil Beat event at the State Capitol, introduced House Bill 2743 along with 20 other lawmakers. “We just have to put that information together into an integrated plan,” Babcock said. Currently, said Babcock, Honolulu has several separate plans that lay out how the county intends to extend its sewer system. This ambiguity is a big reason why the bill also mandates that each county publish a consolidated sewer plan by 2027. ![]() “If I had a cesspool – which I don’t, but if I did – I would be wondering, ‘Well wait a minute, do I need to upgrade my system myself and pay for it myself? Or is the county going to bring me a sewer to my house?’” said Roger Babcock, who oversees wastewater in Honolulu as director of the Department of Environmental Services. Switching to a septic tank shortly before learning that the city plans to run a sewage line past your house would be a costly mistake. Septic tanks often cost $20,000 or more, and connecting to a county sewer line – legally required in Honolulu if the county builds one down your street – costs about $8,500 to $10,000 per property. Two main options currently exist for homeowners wanting to convert their cesspools to alternate wastewater systems: They can install a septic tank or connect to a county sewer line.īut both of these options are expensive. In the meantime they’ll consider proposed amendments like a pollution fee waiver for low-income cesspool owners. Three senate committees discussed the bill on Wednesday, and each decided to defer a vote until next week. Counties would also be required to publish comprehensive plans of where they intend to build new sewer lines. The bill essentially allows counties to charge what’s called a “cesspool pollution fee.” Those fees can then be deposited into a new fund for mitigating the effects of cesspools. House Bill 2743 is intended to help answer a question plaguing residents since 2017, when lawmakers passed a bill requiring all cesspools be converted to other forms of wastewater treatment by 2050. “And so how we’re going to do that is really the issue – where is the funding going to come from?” He testified in support of House Bill 2743, saying that it’s important for property owners to convert their cesspools to cleaner forms of wastewater management like septic tanks or connecting to a county sewer line. This image comes from the Hawaii Cesspool Prioritization Tool, an interactive map that details the state’s cesspools and the severity of their environmental and public health threats based on location.
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