(BIVN) – A Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the addition of Wastewater Services in Puna has been published in The Environmental Notice. 

The Hawai‘i County Department of Environmental Management, with consultant AECOM, plans to bring “wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal infrastructure and services” to the Puna area. “The action would provide efficient, technologically advanced, and resilient wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal infrastructure and services, primarily to town and village centers in the Project Area,” the Notice summary states.

Inset of map showing cesspool locations from the “Addition of Wastewater Services for the Puna District Draft EIS”

The Draft EIS says options for wastewater systems comprise the following (USEPA 2005):

• Onsite – A system relying on natural processes and/or mechanical components to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from a single dwelling or building;
• Decentralized – A managed onsite system and/or cluster of systems used to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from a small community or service area; and
• Centralized – A managed system consisting of collection sewers and a single treatment plant used to collect and treat wastewater from an entire service area.

The document provides more information on the different alternatives:

Alternative 1A – Individual Wastewater Systems and Decentralized Treatment. Draft EIS: “Effectively, Alternative 1A is the no action alternative and is representative of the future no action condition. Under Alternative 1A, County wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal infrastructure and services for the Project Area would not be added.”

Alternative 1B – Decentralized Treatment. Draft EIS: “Alternative 1B comprises decentralized treatment to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from individual dwellings or buildings, and small communities or service areas throughout the Project Area. Under this alternative, the County would construct, operate, and maintain the collection systems; whereas homeowners and other private entities would install, operate, and maintain the decentralized treatment facilities, as well as the connections on private property to the collection systems.”

Alternative 2/3 – Subregional Wastewater Treatment Plants. Draft EIS: “Alternative 2/3 comprises a combination of subregional centralized WWTPs to collect and treat wastewater from three or four subregional service areas, and IWSs to treat and disperse or reclaim wastewater from individual dwellings or buildings not within the WWTP service areas. Under this alternative, the County would construct, operate, and maintain the subregional wastewater systems, and individual property owners and businesses would construct, operate, and maintain IWSs. Subregional WWTPs would be located in Volcano, Kea‘au, and Hawaiian Paradise Park (three service areas option), or in those three locations plus Pāhoa (four service areas option).”

Map of Puna showing one of the project alternatives found in the “Addition of Wastewater Services for the Puna District Draft EIS”

Alternative 4/5 – Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. Draft EIS: “Alternative 4/5 combines two Facility Plan regional plant alternatives:

• Alternative 4, a County regional wastewater system that does not accommodate wastewater from dispersed development2 and rural areas, which would be served by IWSs.
• Alternative 5, a County regional wastewater system that hypothetically accommodates wastewater from all properties throughout the Project Area. Conceptually, all areas would be sewered.”

Alternative 6/7 – Conveyance to Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant. Draft EIS: “Alternative 6/7 combines two Facility Plan alternatives that entail conveying Project Area wastewater to the existing County of Hawai‘i Hilo WWTP:

• Alternative 6, a County regional wastewater system that does not accommodate wastewater from dispersed development and rural areas, which would be served by IWSs.
• Alternative 7, a County regional wastewater system that hypothetically accommodates wastewater from all properties throughout the Project Area. Conceptually, all areas would be sewered.”

“The existing permitted treatment and outfall capacity for the Hilo WWTP may need to be expanded to accept additional wastewater flow”, the document states.

“Assuming the first construction contracts start around 2027 and the last contracts are awarded around 2047, after 20 years, the County would need to bid and award six to eight contracts every year from 2027 through 2047 for all construction to be completed by the year 2052,” the Draft EIS reads.

A statutory 45-day public review and comment period on the draft EIS is now underway. Comments are due by June 7, 2023. “Please read the document, then address comments to the accepting authority at Kelly.Hartman@hawaiicounty.gov and copy the consultant,” the Notice states.