Evolving from Reactive to Proactive: Wastewater's Challenge for the 21st Century

[Based on a speech given by the Department's former Deputy Director, Cheryl Okuma-Sepe, to the Hawaii Environment Association on May 13, 1997]

An esteemed and famous engineer (who happens to be the department Director, Ken Sprague) once said, "Rather than teetering at the precarious edge of substandard services, we should be operating at the cutting edge of wastewater management."

Did you know that our department processes more than 41 billion gallons of wastewater each year, maintains 1,900 miles of sewer lines, and spends one out of every four dollars allocated for the City's Construction Improvement Projects?

Did you know our department operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and is one of the most stringently regulated government services?

Yet, very few members of the public think about us until something goes wrong.

In previous years, the City's wastewater services marched to the beat of environmental lawsuits. The committment of resources on legal issues proved to be an obstacle to planning efforts for our treatment facilities. Yet the the outcome of the lawsuits and enforcement actions was the City's commitment to reduce spills. While the past has been dominated by meeting legal commitments, the present finds the City being proactive.

In response to enforcement actions, we have made the following breakthroughs:

1. Incorporated computers for monitoring, evaluating, and planning future projects for our wastewater system.
   

2. Completed a spill reduction plan to analyze spill causes and prioritize repairs and maintenance activities. We will be submitting a 20-year wastewater rehabilitation plan to EPA.
   
3. Gathered flow and rain data for the past 5 years, and increased inspections of the 1900 miles of lines. The information gathered is being incorporated into our rehabilitation and planning projects.
   
4. Increased our database of industries discharging to the City's sewer system and increased enforcement of violations for industries that do not adequately pretreat their discharges.

[Editor's note: The following points were modified slightly from the original speech to reflect current activities]

1. Develop a strategy to implement the Mamala Bay Study. We are considering additional ocean monitoring stations and scientific processes, boosting our ocean current monitoring system, and doing a study on disinfection of the Sand Island discharge.
   

2. Construct a pilot Wastewater Reuse Plant in Ewa. To that end, we will be working with the Board of Water Supply to incorporate the use of reclaimed water as an additional (nondrinking) water resource, considering economics and marketing considerations. We will be constructing a tertiary treatment plant in Ewa.
   
3. Resolve issues regarding discharge of secondary treated effluent into Lake Wilson from Wahiawa.
   
4. Implement ultraviolet disinfection technology at the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. We had completed a six month pilot study and found this disinfection method to be feasible.

We are investing in better customer service, outreach efforts to the community, training for managers and supervisors, participation in national research efforts, and creating partners and teams to accomplish tasks.

In the coming years, wastewater management will be dictated by dollars. No matter how one looks at this business, it is expensive. It is critical that we scrutinize how we do things in the department and improve. Unlike most other Departments, the public pays for services directly and they are constantly questioning the costs.