EPA orders closure of three large-capacity cesspools on the Big Island

Three illegal cesspools on the island have been shut down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA announced Thursday that it ordered a pair of illegal large-capacity cesspools at the Wailuku Professional Plaza in Hilo and another at the Power Self Storage Kuakini facility in Kailua-Kona to shut down.

Large-capacity cesspools, which can serve 20 or more people per day, have been banned under the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2005. Because they collect and release untreated raw sewage into the ground, they can contaminate groundwater, streams and the ocean.

“Big Island companies must do their part to protect our surface water and groundwater resources from the disease-causing pollution found in large capacity cesspools,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman in a statement. “EPA is committed to finding and closing all remaining illegal cesspools in Hawaii.”

The Wailuku cesspools were discovered in July 2021 during an inspection of the Wailuku Professional Plaza, which is located about 100 feet from the Wailuku River. The plaza’s owners agreed to close the cesspools and pay a $43,000 penalty in May.

The operator of the Kailua-Kona cesspool also agreed to close that cesspool by September 2023 and to pay a $28,780 fine.

More than 3,750 large-capacity cesspools have been closed in the state since 2005, but the EPA reports that cesspools are more widely used in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country. The EPA encourages companies and property owners to disclose and shut down any large-capacity cesspools on their properties, and can offer penalty mitigation and other incentives for those that do.