DIRE Testimony on Injection Wells

 Testimony of Jeffrey H Schwartz
          On behalf of the DIRE Coalition – Don’t Inject, RE-direct
        Before the Infrastructure Management Committee – Maui County Council
                            February 28, 2011

	Aloha, Chair Cochran and other members of the Infrastructure Management
Committee.  Mahalo for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the DIRE
Coalition. We are a network of Maui based organizations and individuals working
(a) to  protect our near shore marine environment, and (b) to conserve precious
water resources by minimizing the use of injection wells for disposing
wastewater effluent near the ocean and instead adequately treating, reclaiming,
and reusing these water resources beneficially and safely on land.  The DIRE
coalition includes representatives from Maui Tomorrow, the Sierra Club,
Surfrider Foundation Maui, the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, and other organizations
and individuals. 

	We have three overall messages to convey in this brief testimony, then want to
answer your questions. The first message is one of deep concern. We call
ourselves the DIRE coalition, because we urge the County, “Don’t Inject,
Re-direct” and recycle these precious resources rather treating them as
pollution and throwing them away, because the situation IS dire. We are in a
multi-year drought with the climate growing hotter, and we are discarding
precious water resources that could be reclaimed and recycled. We are in the
midst of decades-long struggles over water rights, which could be alleviated in
part by saving and reusing 15 billion gallons of water/per year. We aspire to
agricultural self-sufficiency yet are letting good farm and pasture land remain
dry and fallow. The situation is dire because our friends, neighbors, family,
and visitors who work and play in the ocean are experiencing treatment
resistant staph infections.  The situation is dire, because we know our
precious reefs around Maui are deteriorating and we know that this caused by a
variety of factors.  The situation is dire, because reef scientists warn us
that action on all fronts – including reducing nutrient discharges to the ocean
– is needed NOW to protect our reefs. The situation is direct because we know it
will take years to reclaim and recycle most of Maui’s wastewaters even if we all
agreed to start now and push hard. Yes, the situation is dire, and we need to
act now if it’s not going to grow worse.

	Our second message is a message of hope.  We are hopeful today, because we know
the wisdom of the ancient Hawaiian saying -- pardon that my Hawaiian is not as
good as I wish – “A'ohe hana nui ka alu'ia_ -- No task is too big when done
together.” We are hopeful because there seems to be a growing consensus on Maui
that we need to treat, reclaim, and reuse our wastewater effluent, not discharge
inadequately treated effluent through wells into the ocean.

      •	As early as 1995, we had a financial blue print for enhancing wastewater
recycling in the Brown and Caldwell report, titled “Rate and Fee Alternatives
for Reclaimed Water Service.” See:
http://www.co.maui.hi.us/documents/Environmental%20Management/Wastewater%20Division/Wastewater%20Community%20Working%20Group/Rate%20and%20Fee%20Alternatives%20for%20Reclaimed%20Water%20Service-2.PDF

      •	Mayor Arakawa testified at the 2008 EPA Lahaina hearing in favor of
greater wastewater recycling and phasing out injection wells. Specifically, he
acknowledged  that “. . . there's . . . a severe water shortage problem that
the Water Department of the County is having to go through. So you have to
balance off what are the community needs. The community needs to have more
water availability. We cannot continuously dilute streams to get more water. So
it makes sense -- and a lot of speakers have pointed this out -- that we start
to reuse and make it a requirement to reuse water that we have available that
can be used in the proper way, like for irrigation.” P. 81, line 22 – p. 82,
line 6. -
http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/groundwater/uic-pdfs/lah1345E.pdf

      •	Former Mayor Tavares set a goal of ending Injection wells and achieving
100% water reuse. 

      •	And the Community Working Group -- representing business, agriculture,
utilities, neighborhood associations, environmental scientists, engineers,
fishermen, and education specialists – has “recommended a comprehensive menu of
strategies which, when implemented, will move Maui Island significantly closer
to the dual goals of increase recycled water reuse and reducing reliance on
injection wells.”
That brings us to our third message and why today’s hearing is so timely.  It is
time to stop arguing about whether or not injection wells are good or bad,
whether or not we can only afford to recycle more water by charging higher
treatment fees, or who is to blame for decline of the reefs. It is time to act
like we are in this canoe together, and TOGETHER seek practical steps to
improve and extend the infrastructure as much and as soon as possible so we can
treat the wastewaters properly, reclaim them, and reuse them beneficially and
safely on land to fight Maui’s water shortage, and protect our ocean resources.

	Over 1900 other communities have taken concrete steps to reclaim and recycle
their wastewater effluent safely and beneficially.  We already do this some at
Lahaina and Kihei. Now we have to talk together about specific next steps in
infrastructure development to move us as quickly as possible toward the shared
goals of greater water reuse and phasing out injection wells (except as a
measure of last resort) at all three county plants, including Kahului.

	So we welcome your leadership, Councilmember Cochran, in calling this hearing
and inviting this panel and your Committee to the discussion of how we make
infrastructure progress as soon as possible to maximize water reuse and protect
the health and well-being of our ocean, our reefs, and our people who work and
play there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Appendix for Jeff Schwartz’s Testimony on behalf of the DIRE Coalition
                         February 28, 2011
IM-10 Infrastructure Improvements Needed to Initiate Phasing Out the Use of
Injection Wells
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpts from Mayor Arakawa’s Testimony at EPA Region 9 Public Hearing
On Lahaina Injection Well Permit – November 6, 2008

http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/groundwater/uic-pdfs/lah1345E.pdf: 

“One of the things that you should be looking at is the fact that division is
entitled Wastewater Reclamation Division. The very purpose of the Division is
to take the water, reclaim it so that we can have Reuse.” – p. 80, lines 20-24.

“When you look at the Lahaina Treatment Plant and the Kahului Treatment Plant,
the effluent is very close, the wells are very close to the ocean. They are not
miles above the ocean; they're hundreds of yards above the ocean. And I think
that you will find that the water that's going from the treatment plant, going
into the ocean, is probably getting there a lot sooner than most people think.”
– p. 81, lines 5-12

“I know that, in Kahului, the water goes into the injection well, it comes out
almost immediately at the ocean side. We can even see traces of it bubbling up
almost as a stream. In Lahaina, we're not much further. I believe the effects
of the water getting into the ocean is a lot sooner than what we think.” – p.
81, lines 15-21. 

“. . . there's also a severe water shortage problem that the Water Department of
the County is having to go through. So you have to balance off what are the
community needs. The community needs to have more water availability. We cannot
continuously dilute streams to get more water. So it makes sense -- and a lot of
speakers have pointed this out -- that we start to reuse and make it a
requirement to reuse water that we have available that can be used in the
proper way, like for irrigation.” P. 81, line 22 – p. 82, line 6. 

“I think you have a very clear mandate with what [science] is available to
seriously consider banning the injection well use and start doing things to
clean up that water so that it's actually much cleaner and you have much better
tracking system for it.” P. 82, lines 19-23. 

“Now, you cannot do it overnight. As Dr. Pang was pointing out, perhaps we need
to be able to step it so that it's a requirement that is met, you know,
periodic improvements, so every year, so many percent of it has to be reused,
and get away from the injection wells altogether.” P. 82, line 23 – p. 83, line
4. 

“If the Water Department is having to go through the cost of looking for water
and providing water for the community, some of those costs could be deferred
into the wastewater treatment system to be able to get water that's readily
available, and substitute that water for drinking water that's being used for
irrigation and other -- other kinds of uses like that.” -  P. 83, lines 7-13. 

“From a practical standpoint, if you require reuse -- if there are any kind of
accidents that happen or upsets within the system, 100 percent reuse will
require that some kind of treatment be made and not just disposed of in the
wells, never to be seen again. It will require much more and better management
by the County in how they run the systems. But then shouldn't that be what it
-- is being required?” – P. 86, lines 13-20. 

Excerpt from Dave Taylor’s Testimony at that hearing: 

“. . . water that gets reused goes through ultraviolet disinfection, which are
ultraviolet lamps that sterilize any pathogens that are in that water. And so
about a million gallons of that water every day goes towards reuse. The other
water, about four million gallons, maybe a little less, goes down the injection
wells. The injection well water is -- does not go through the ultraviolet
treatment. It goes down these deep pipes into the ground, they go down a couple
hundred feet. And that water moves outward through the ground, eventually it
comes out into the ocean.” P. 8, lines 10-21.


Appendix for Jeff Schwartz’s Testimony on behalf of the DIRE Coalition

February 28, 2011 

IM-10 Infrastructure Improvements Needed to Initiate Phasing Out the Use of Injection Wells

 

 

Excerpts from Mayor Arakawa’s Testimony at EPA Region 9 Public Hearing

On Lahaina Injection Well Permit – November 6, 2008

 

http://www.epa.gov/region9/water/groundwater/uic-pdfs/lah1345E.pdf:

 

“One of the things that you should be looking at is the fact that division is entitled Wastewater Reclamation Division. The very purpose of the Division is to take the water, reclaim it so that we can have Reuse.” – p. 80, lines 20-24.

 

“When you look at the Lahaina Treatment Plant and the Kahului Treatment Plant, the effluent is very close, the wells are very close to the ocean. They are not miles above the ocean; they're hundreds of yards above the ocean. And I think that you will find that the water that's going from the treatment plant, going into the ocean, is probably getting there a lot sooner than most people think.” – p. 81, lines 5-12

 

“I know that, in Kahului, the water goes into the injection well, it comes out almost immediately at the ocean side. We can even see traces of it bubbling up almost as a stream. In Lahaina, we're not much further. I believe the effects of the water getting into the ocean is a lot sooner than what we think.” – p. 81, lines 15-21.

 

“. . . there's also a severe water shortage problem that the Water Department of the County is having to go through. So you have to balance off what are the community needs. The community needs to have more water availability. We cannot continuously dilute streams to get more water. So it makes sense -- and a lot of speakers have pointed this out -- that we start to reuse and make it a requirement to reuse water that we have available that can be used in the proper way, like for irrigation.” P. 81, line 22 – p. 82, line 6.

 

“I think you have a very clear mandate with what [science] is available to seriously consider banning the injection well use and start doing things to clean up that water so that it's actually much cleaner and you have much better tracking system for it.” P. 82, lines 19-23.

 

“Now, you cannot do it overnight. As Dr. Pang was pointing out, perhaps we need to be able to step it so that it's a requirement that is met, you know, periodic improvements, so every year, so many percent of it has to be reused, and get away from the injection wells altogether.” P. 82, line 23 – p. 83, line 4.

 

“If the Water Department is having to go through the cost of looking for water and providing water for the community, some of those costs could be deferred into the wastewater treatment system to be able to get water that's readily available, and substitute that water for drinking water that's being used for irrigation and other -- other kinds of uses like that.” -  P. 83, lines 7-13.

 

“From a practical standpoint, if you require reuse -- if there are any kind of accidents that happen or upsets within the system, 100 percent reuse will require that some kind of treatment be made and not just disposed of in the wells, never to be seen again. It will require much more and better management by the County in how they run the systems. But then shouldn't that be what it -- is being required?” – P. 86, lines 13-20.

 

Excerpt from Dave Taylor’s Testimony at that hearing: 

 

“. . . water that gets reused goes through ultraviolet disinfection, which are ultraviolet lamps that sterilize any pathogens that are in that water. And so about a million gallons of that water every day goes towards reuse. The other water, about four million gallons, maybe a little less, goes down the injection wells. The injection well water is -- does not go through the ultraviolet treatment. It goes down these deep pipes into the ground, they go down a couple hundred feet. And that water moves outward through the ground, eventually it comes out into the ocean.” P. 8, lines 10-21.