Officials highlight cesspool conversion funding for Kaua‘i homeowners already feeling the pinch

Hawai‘i is home to about 88,000 cesspools that release 52 million gallons of sewage into the islands’ groundwater every day, and the clock is ticking for its homeowners to perform costly conversions to their wastewater systems by 2050.

That deadline was established in 2017 by the state legislature under Act 125. But while it is still more than 25 years down the road, many homeowners are already feeling the burden of the mandated upgrades, which now average about $50,000.

“Cesspools are one of the biggest problems that we face in Hawai‘i right now,” State Rep. Luke Evslin (D-16) said Monday evening during a town hall before an overflow crowd at the Kaua‘i Philippine Cultural Center in Līhu‘e.

Evslin helmed the meeting featuring his fellow Kaua‘i delegates, majority leader Rep. Nadine Nakamura (D-15) and majority floor leader Rep. Dee Morikawa (D-17), and local government and community leaders.

Evslin and his fellow speakers promoted the Kaua‘i County Residential Cesspool Conversion Grant Program, which will divide $2 million among 100 qualifying homeowners ($20,000 per household). The program’s application period opened in late August, and as of Monday, 233 homeowners already had applied.

The application period will close on Sept. 27. Recipients will be chosen based upon seven priority criteria.

The Kauaʻi funding doesn’t go far with homeowners on the Garden Isle needing to convert 13,700 cesspools, which discharge 9.5 million gallons of sewage into the groundwater each day.

Several people at the town hall expressed anger and frustration with the prospect of looming cesspool conversion payments.

“Hopefully, if it goes well, we’ll get more money next year. Maybe we’ll be able to give out more than $20,000 per household,” Kauaʻi County Housing Director Adam Roversi said. “This is a federal rule: You have to actually complete the cesspool, and you will receive the $20,000 after it is done.”

Funding for the Kaua‘i County Residential Cesspool Conversion Grant Program is provided by the state Department of Health’s Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.

Homeowners who do not convert their cesspools by 2050 will be in violation of state law, although Act 125 contains no language regarding a penalty structure.

Several county council members were among those in attendance. Council Chair Mel Rapozo, who was invited by Evslin to address his constituents, commiserated while highlighting Kaua‘i County’s current lack of sewer expansion plans.

“I wish we had more authority in this issue than the council does … Our administration doesn’t have a plan,” Rapozo claimed. “We on the council, we just need the plan so we can fund the plan.

Rapozo added: “It doesn’t make sense to have any one of you invest $40 grand in a septic system only to find out that your area will be sewerized in five years.”

According to Evslin, Kaua‘i County’s administration has indicated it would, in such an event, favor legislation exempting qualifying homeowners from sewer payments for 20 to 25 years.

“Within the legislature, there’s different opinions about how to implement this program, who should be taking the lead: The individual landowner, the county, the state,” Nakamura said of the 2050 cesspool conversion mandate. “There’s just a lot of finger pointing right now and that’s why we haven’t moved the needle … We have to work together.”

Other speakers included Stuart Coleman, executive director of Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations. The Honolulu-based nonprofit in 2022 installed the world’s first Cinderella Greywater Combination System – incorporating an incinerator toilet – on Kaua‘i.

A representative of Kauaʻi Federal Credit Union also was on hand to discuss its creation of a cesspool conversion loan, as was former county council member Mason Chock of the nonprofit Hanalei Initiative. Chock reiterated the need for collaboration and action.

“There is a lot of federal money that’s available right now and we cannot leave that on the table,” Coleman said. “We have to really make sure that the state and the counties go after this money.”

As the meeting wound down, Evslin added: “The Cesspool Conversion Program was always intended to just be one part of the solution.”

For more information and to apply to the Kaua‘i County Residential Cesspool Conversion Grant Program, visit kauai.gov/housing or click here.