Hawaii’s Cesspools Threaten Drinking Water, Tourism

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Hawaii’s Cesspools Threaten Drinking Water, Tourism

HONOLULU—Paradise has a sewage problem.

Cesspools—holes in the ground where untreated human waste is deposited—have become a crisis in Hawaii, threatening the state’s drinking water, its coral reefs and the famous beaches that are the lifeblood of its tourist economy.

Sewage from cesspools is seeping into some of Hawaii’s ocean waters, where it has been blamed for infections suffered by surfers and snorkelers. It is also entering the drinking water in part of the state, pushing nitrate levels close to the legal limit.

Hawaii has 88,000 cesspools across its eight major islands, more than any other state. Collectively, they deposit 53 million gallons of raw sewage into the ground every day, according to the state health department. More than 90% of the state’s drinking water comes from groundwater wells.

State lawmakers, who outlawed new cesspools in 2016, are scrambling to find a solution to the thousands that exist.

The State and the US EPA have been aggressively citing commercial facilities with cesspools. But as in many cases, the enemy is us.

 

[LJT]

Yuck!

 

[PigsDad]

Why were these not outlawed long before 2016??? It's been many decades since they have outlawed these in my home state of Minnesota (for example), as they found out allowing these can easily result in tainted lakes / water supply.

Kurt

 

[artringwald]

Of course, it was perfectly legal in Minnesota for 3M to bury PFCs in landfills, and now the groundwater is polluted. The $5 billion mega-trial is supposed to start this week. The dump is 2 miles from my house. They had to dig a new hole next to it, install a leak proof liner, and take all the rusty chemical drums from the old dump and put them in the new dump. Anyone with private wells in the groundwater downstream from the dump had to switch to city water. https://www.twincities.com/2018/02/10/minnesota-vs-3m-a-guide-to-the-5-billion-mega-trial/

 

[WalnutBaron]

I hope this post won't be considered political. It isn't meant to be, but I do feel compelled to respond to art's post with the article attached.

I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion--and I am no apologist for 3M--but I am not going to bash 3M for what happened unless it's proven that: a) the chemicals are proven to have causal links to cancer; b) 3M did not report their activities to state officials; and c) the dumping violated Minnesota state laws at the time those laws were in effect. The examples of environmental damage which are being compared to this case--the horrendous Deepwater Horizon disaster and the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska--bear no resemblance to this case. Those cases were the result of carelessness and willfulness, and a deliberate flouting of regulations and standards.

Too often, state officials decide to cover their backsides for their own irresponsibility by suing those evil corporations that are the source of all our societal ills (spoken tongue in cheek). If 3M can back up their claims as presented in the article artringwald posted, then the State of Minnesota will not only owe 3M a huge apology, but also a huge reimbursement for legal costs. 3M is one of the state's largest employers--and those are high-paying jobs that have stayed in Minnesota despite the fact that Minnesota has the 8th highest tax burden in the nation according to the Tax Foundation.

If it turns out that 3M did, in fact, violate environmental laws, all bets are off and they should be subject to massive fines and penalties. But I do find it interesting that the lawsuit has been brought by the State Attorney General and not the EPA, which is one of the most aggressive agencies in Washington.

 

[artringwald]

As it says in the article "A key element of the trial will be the alleged 3M coverup". At the time they buried the PFC waste, it was legal and there wasn't any evidence of medical problems. I worked for 3M for 35 years and always thought they were a socially responsible company, so I'd be surprised if there was a coverup. I'll leave it to the jury to decide. 3M was always good to me, and with their generous pension, I was able to retire at 58.