Many will miss EPA deadline for cesspools

February 28, 2005

The state and many small property owners will likely miss the April 5 th deadline to convert their cesspools to septic systems. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that violators will face up to a $32,500 per day for noncompliance.

The EPA has targeted Hawaii because no other state has used cesspools so widely. The EPA is especially focusing on the larger capacity cesspools. Single family homes are unaffected by the fines. There is a great concern over protecting Hawaii’s drinking water, streams and beaches from contamination. There is no other place that is more affected by this than the North Shore of Oahu.

The EPA is working with property owners, organizations, as well as the state, which needs to convert a number of public restrooms at public parks, to help make the deadline.

This is the EPA’s first step in converting cesspools to septic systems. The next step will be single family homes of which there are as many as 170,000 homes using cesspools.