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Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi released its new Blue Water Task Force Water Quality Report this week. The Conversation talked with the foundation’s Hawaiʻi Regional Manager Lauren Blickley about the most polluted beaches in our state and other results of the 2023 report.
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The Conversation spoke with Stuart Coleman, the head of WAI, or Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations. He said Hawaiʻi's wastewater system needs an overhaul.
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A former state lawmaker has been sentenced to two years in prison in a federal corruption case that’s drawn attention to a perennial problem in the islands: the tens of thousands of cesspools that release 50 million gallons of raw sewage into the state’s pristine waters every day.
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The state Department of Health will award money to help residents upgrade their cesspools. State law requires all cesspools to be removed or upgraded by 2050.
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A new workforce program hopes to boost job training opportunities in the cesspool and wastewater industry. WAI Executive Director Stuart Coleman spoke to The Conversation about the initiative.
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About 14,000 of the most hazardous cesspools should be converted by 2030, a state task force recommended. Cesspools, which are commonly used across Hawaiʻi, pose large environmental health concerns for streams and the ocean, and have long been accused of contaminating groundwater.
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University of Hawaiʻi botanist Celia Smith spoke to The Conversation about researching the effect of coastal cesspools on our reefs so we can better protect our nearshore ecosystems. Smith recalled she was thrilled when then-Gov. David Ige declared 2022 “The Year of Limu."
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The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 9 Office covering the West Coast and the Pacific is on the Big Island, making her first visit to Maunakea. Martha Guzman is also trying to get the word out about new federal money to get people off of cesspool systems.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the state Department of Land and Natural Resources more than $100,000 for an illegal large-capacity cesspool. The EPA banned cesspools in 2005 because of their potential to pollute water sources.
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Hawaiʻi is facing a major challenge of moving nearly 90,000 homes off septic tanks and onto more environmentally friendly alternatives. The Conversation spoke with Executive Director Stuart Coleman to learn more.