WAIMEA — Maui Asphalt, which operates in Waimea, has been fined $107,000 and put on notice by the state Department of Health for discharging pollutants into state waters without a permit or pollution-control methods on the site of the county’s Waimea 400, according to the DOH.
WAIMEA — Maui Asphalt, which operates in Waimea, has been fined $107,000 and put on notice by the state Department of Health for discharging pollutants into state waters without a permit or pollution-control methods on the site of the county’s Waimea 400, according to the DOH.
“Industrial pollution poses a threat to Hawaiʻi residents and our natural resources,” Deputy Director of Environmental Health Kathleen Ho said in a Monday release. “DOH will continue to enforce environmental regulations to protect public health and the environment.”
The DOH Clean Water Branch received complaints that the facility was polluting state water last year. In April 2021, the DOH issued a notice of apparent violation and requested more information from the facility.
The facility was then inspected in August 2021, where the DOH discovered aggregate, dirt, fuel and oil pollutants, according to the Notice of Violation and Order (NOVO).
The NOVO stipulates that Maui Asphalt must pay the monetary penalty and obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which it did not have. It requires the facility to implement various pollution-control devices to keep from contaminating water.
The DOH said the facility discharged pollutants on 43 days from September 2015 to March 2021.
The county purchased the 417-acre Waimea 400 parcel in 2019. Maui Asphalt operates on about four acres of this land. Two drainage ditches border the west and east sides of the facility, and a third drainage ditch bisects the facility. The drainage ditches are part of the Mana Plain Canal System.
The company must also develop a stormwater-pollution-control plan, according to the DOH.
