cesspools

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached a consent decree with Hawai’i County on its aging sewage system, including the Hilo treatment plant. We sat down with EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman to talk about the dismal state of the facility.

A new study by University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo researcher Maria Steadmon looks at bacteria levels at six of Hilo's popular swimming and surfing spots.

Martha Guzman heads up the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9, covering the southwestern states as well as Pacific islands like Hawaiʻi and Guam. The Conversation talked with Guzman about this particular phase of assessing the infrastructure critical to building Maui back better.

Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi released its new Blue Water Task Force Water Quality Report this week. The Conversation talked with the foundation’s Hawaiʻi Regional Manager Lauren Blickley about the most polluted beaches in our state and other results of the 2023 report.

The Conversation spoke with Stuart Coleman, the head of WAI, or Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations. He said Hawaiʻi's wastewater system needs an overhaul.

A former state lawmaker has been sentenced to two years in prison in a federal corruption case that’s drawn attention to a perennial problem in the islands: the tens of thousands of cesspools that release 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the state’s pristine waters every day.

The state Department of Health will award money to help residents upgrade their cesspools. State law requires all cesspools to be removed or upgraded by 2050.

A new workforce program hopes to boost job training opportunities in the cesspool and wastewater industry. WAI Executive Director Stuart Coleman spoke to The Conversation about the initiative.

About 14,000 of the most hazardous cesspools should be converted by 2030, a state task force recommended. Cesspools, which are commonly used across Hawaiʻi, pose large environmental health concerns for streams and the ocean, and have long been accused of contaminating groundwater.

University of Hawaiʻi botanist Celia Smith spoke to The Conversation about researching the effect of coastal cesspools on our reefs so we can better protect our nearshore ecosystems. Smith recalled she was thrilled when then-Gov. David Ige declared 2022 “The Year of Limu."