County cited for more landfill violations

The Maui News
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - The county faces $62,300 in fines from the state Department of Health for water pollution violations at landfills in Hana and on Lanai and Molokai.

The county was cited for failing to maintain drainage swales, detention basins and containment areas, which allowed polluted rainwater to run into the ocean last year, according to a Health Department statement. The county also failed to maintain oil containment areas and didn't keep up with required rainwater sampling at the landfills, it said.

The fines include $32,000 for violations at the Molokai Integrated Solid Waste Facility; $17,600 for the Lanai Sanitary Landfill; and $12,700 for the Hana Sanitary Landfill.

Public Works Director Milton Arakawa said the county would not contest the fines but had requested a hearing with health officials.

"We want an administrative hearing to discuss the extent of the penalties and update the DOH on our efforts to address the issues they raised and improve the situation," he said.

It's not the first time in recent history the county has been fined by health officials over violations at county landfills. Last year, the county agreed to pay $200,000 for unsanitary conditions and permit violations at the Central Maui and Lanai landfills, and an additional $81,000 for separate Lanai violations.

Arakawa said stockpiling of junked cars and scrap metal at the various landfills was a key contributor to most recent problems, since the scraps left unburied contribute to contamination of rainwater and get in the way of monitoring and drainage improvements. The county has already executed a contract with a private company to clear scrap from the Molokai landfill and will request an additional $1.5 million in the fiscal year 2007-08 budget to remove scrap metals from Hana.

"Once those are done, we can deal with the storm water issues a lot more efficiently," he said.

The public works department will also request $3 million to construct the third cell of the Molokai landfill, a facility that will include required drainage upgrades. And $1 million is already budgeted to repair a perimeter ditch at the Lanai landfill, he said.

Arakawa also acknowledged the county hadn't conducted the water sampling required under its permit.

"At present we have insufficient staffing to do that, so as part of the 2008 budget we're requesting an environmental technician to go around to all the landfills and do this monitoring," he said.

Arakawa said he hoped to explain to health officials how the county would be improving the landfills.

"We just want a chance to discuss the violations with the director," he said.