Editorial: End of the wastewater battle on Maui

The year-long legal battle in Maui County over its Lahaina sewage treatment plant has come to a gracious end. Now the real work begins.

For decades, the county used injection wells at the facility to pump millions of gallons of purified wastewater into the groundwater near Kahekili Beach every day. This nutrient-rich sewage – actually pollution – ended up in Maui’s offshore ocean waters, about half a mile away.

Obviously, this is a bad idea. The damage to the reefs and marine life led to a lawsuit by environmental groups in 2012 that sparked a lawsuit that cost Maui County’s about $ 5 million victory for environmentalists.

The Supreme Court found in a 6-3 ruling that the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires approval if “there is a direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters or if there is a functional equivalent of a direct discharge” – in this case a discharge into the groundwater, which under certain conditions ends up in the ocean. The decision essentially upheld several minor court judgments that reached similar conclusions about the scope of the CWA.

Conclusion: In order to continue using the injection wells, Maui County must obtain approval from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

Now the dust has settled, the landscape has changed a lot and the way forward is clearer.

Thankfully, Maui County has chosen to look ahead, not back. Last month it announced that it would work to fulfill court rulings and a 2015 settlement agreement reached by the warring parties.

The settlement means the county will invest in projects that will recycle the wastewater to irrigate the arid upper slopes of West Maui. It is hoped that the district will stop using injection wells entirely.

“In Lahaina, the environmental management department is renovating high-level reservoirs so that the water can be pumped and stored there for use on the slopes,” said a press release from the district. “This means that water can be provided for irrigation and green belts can be created for fire protection.”

The cost of this effort could be $ 2.5 million or more. But it’s the smarter option.

Modernizing our public infrastructure for sustainable waste management is a long-term investment with lasting benefits – a much cleaner environment, from our homes to the beach, for future generations.