Maui Locals: No More Wastewater In The Ocean

Dozens of people waited to testify at a public hearing at Lahaina Civic Center organized by the state Department of Health over its draft pollution discharge permit for the Lahaina wastewater treatment plant. (Paula Dobbyn/Civil Beat)

A draft permit would allow the practice to continue of injecting wastewater into the ground close to the ocean. Those who testified at a recent hearing said it’s destroying coral reefs.

Treated wastewater should be used to irrigate golf course and resorts, not pumped into the ground where it flows into the ocean and damages coral reefs, fish and other aquatic life, according to Maui residents opposed to a new wastewater discharge permit.

The residents turned out at a hearing last week on the draft pollution discharge permit, issued by the state Department of Health, that would allow a Lahaina wastewater reclamation plant to keep injecting treated wastewater into the ground. The water travels about a half mile through porous volcanic rock before entering the ocean.

Opponents of the new permit include many ocean users, cultural practitioners, farmers and landscapers.

The discharge – anywhere from 3 million to 5 million gallons per day – contains nitrogen and phosphorus levels known to damage corals, particularly those off Kahekili Beach Park, a popular snorkeling spot makai of the plant.

The need for a permit originated in a lawsuit against Maui County that led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that was a victory for environmental groups.

For years, Maui County claimed it didn’t need a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which regulates pollution allowed to enter waters of the United States. Its attorneys said the discharges went into groundwater, which is not federally regulated, instead of flowing into surface water via a “point source,” like a pipe. The latter would have fallen under the Clean Water Act, requiring a discharge elimination permit.

The Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club-Maui Group, Surfrider Foundation and West Maui Preservation Association sued in 2012.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court in 2020 sided with Earthjustice, which filed the case on behalf of the environmental groups. The justices found that Maui’s injection well discharges did violate the Clean Water Act and the plant must get the federal permit, which the state health department has authority to write.

The health department’s draft permit contains provisions such as requiring extensive water quality testing. It bars “mixing zones,” regulatory loopholes that allow pollution to exceed water quality standards until the pollutants are diluted enough to fall within regulatory limits.

Despite those safeguards, Earthjustice attorneys and residents who spoke at the hearing say the levels of nutrients allowed under the draft permit are too high and the permit just continues the status quo.

“It doesn’t meet the goals of the Clean Water Act,” said Maui resident Robin Knox, an environmental scientist. “We know these levels are detrimental to the coral reef.”

State Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents West Maui, said the treated wastewater acts as […]

Full article: www.civilbeat.org