City Council Approves Massive Sewage Settlement

After years of litigation over Honolulu’s sewer systems, the city is one step closer to finalizing a landmark settlement with a group of state and federal environmental agencies and nonprofits. The agreement would cost the city more than $1 billion, and would usher in a quarter-century of improvements to Honolulu’s sewers and sewage infrastructure.

Council members today voted without discussion to enter into a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency, Hawaii Department of Health, Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter, Our Children’s Earth Foundation and Hawaii’s Thousand Friends.

“Unfortunately, this is something that we have to do because it’s something that got deferred in years past,” said City Council Chairman Todd Apo after the decision. “We recognized that we are going to be under a number of federal mandates. We have a lawsuit that’s cost us a lot in legal fees. So to get to a point that allows the city a significant amount of time to do all the fixes we need to do so that a large burden isn’t placed on taxpayers, I think, is a win-win.”

The council’s approval was expected — the mayor’s office announced late last month a consent decree had been reached, and would be on the agenda for today's meeting. But it represents a significant step after more than a decade and a half of debate over Honolulu’s aging sewer infrastructure and its handling of sewage.

In 2004, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit alleging system-wide deficiencies. Ben Lee, then the city’s managing director, responded that the litigation was “absolutely unnecessary,” and “a waste of taxpayer dollars.” Two years later, a pipe ruptured and spewed nearly 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal, posing public health threats and closing Waikiki beaches in the worst recorded raw-sewage spill in state history.

Among the first and most significant actions the city would take under the agreement is an overhaul to the city’s collection system: sewers, force mains, pumps and pipes like the one that caused the 2006 spill.

Loading