County’s sewage injections traced to West Maui coastal waters
Lahaina, HI–(ENEWSPF)–July 25, 2013. Scientists from the University of Hawaiʻi have released a final study vindicating the concerns of Maui citizen groups that sued Maui County last year under the federal Clean Water Act and state water quality laws for illegally discharging wastewater into the ocean near a popular beach, Kahekili Beach, from its Lahaina treatment facility’s injection wells.
For 30 years, the County has been dumping wastewater from its Lahaina facility into injection wells that connect underground to the ocean. In April 2012, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund, Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club-Maui Group, and West Maui Preservation Association, charging that the wastewater, containing nutrient pollution, pharmaceuticals, and until a federal consent decree forced the County to disinfect, bacteria and other pathogens, was making its way into the ocean near popular Kahekili Beach, endangering the public, contributing to toxic algal growth, and harming the sensitive coral reef ecosystem.