LIHU‘E — Slurpees, saimin and … cesspools?
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven Hawai‘i has agreed to shut down its remaining large-capacity cesspools, conduct audits at all stores statewide and pay a $145,000 fine after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it discovered three illegal cesspools on company properties.
“It is crucial that businesses use proper wastewater treatment systems to protect groundwater from disease-causing pollution,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “This settlement will help protect the islands’ groundwater by requiring the closure of all remaining 7-Eleven Hawai‘i illegal cesspools.”
Cesspools that either serve multiple homes or more than 20 people per day at a nonresidential building are classified by the EPA as large-capacity cesspools, or LCCs. Since 2005, federal law has required the closure of all LCCs under the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control program.
During a July 2021 EPA inspection of two 7-Eleven Hawai‘i stores in Hilo and Pahoa on Hawai‘i Island, as well as one store in Ka‘a‘awa on O‘ahu, agency officials said they discovered cesspools at each site large enough to qualify as LCCs.
As part of the settlement made, 7-Eleven Hawai‘i will perform an audit of all 58 company-operated properties in the state of Hawai‘i to identify any remaining large-capacity cesspools. The company will then submit to EPA a closure plan that includes a schedule for the closure or retrofit of any identified LCCs. Once the plan is submitted, the company must close all identified cesspools within three years.
The convenience store chain must also pay EPA a civil penalty of $145,000 under the agreed-upon settlement.
According to the state Department of Health, Hawai‘i has approximately 88,000 cesspools for disposing untreated sanitary waste, about 14,000 of which are on Kaua‘i.
As cesspools fill with human and chemical waste, bacteria break down larger, solid particles. However, fluids, chemicals and pathogens are able to leach out into the surrounding soil.
As gravity pulls the waste down, these particles can seep into groundwater, streams and rivers, and the ocean, threatening the health of those who come in contact with the polluted waters.
Unlike LCCs, most of the state’s cesspools serve only single-family homes and are not regulated by the EPA. However, a 2017 Hawai‘i law requires that all cesspools in the state be replaced by 2050.
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Jackson Healy, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-4966 or jhealy@thegardenisland.com.
