Maui County Council members spent more than four hours on Tuesday examining the Department of Environmental Management’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

That included discussion of one line item in particular that triggered questions over $2.6 million in proposed funding for preparation of a federal Clean Water Act permit for treatment of Lahaina’s wastewater.

Council member Tasha Kama asked the director of the Department of Environmental Management, Shane Agawa, what the money would be used for exactly, and if it was an accurate estimate.

Agawa deferred to Eric Nakagawa, chief of the Wastewater Reclamation Division, who said $2.6 million was the best estimate the department could come up with at this time. He also explained why hiring consultants would be needed.

“There’s a whole load of studies and labs and testing and all that kind of stuff that is not done by our experts. So that all will be done by consultants or contractors performing that type of duties,” Nakagawa said. “This is just the beginning because the process is still ongoing.”

The handling of Lahaina’s sewage and wastewater has been litigated for more than a decade. The legal battle went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court with environmentalists and community activists saying the county’s injection wells were polluting the ocean and killing the coral reef.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled in 2020 that Maui County was violating the Clean Water Act by refusing to get a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that regulates sewage discharges. The county had argued that injection wells don’t need such a permit because they don’t directly pump waste into the ocean but allow it to percolate through the groundwater.

The court found that logic unpersuasive and said it amounted to a massive loophole in the Clean Water Act.

The county appealed and lost. The Hawaii federal court reaffirmed in 2021 that discharges from Lahaina’s injection wells must be regulated by an NPDES permit.

Since then, a draft NPDES permit was prepared and released for public comment. But the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires delayed the process of getting it enacted.

Mahesh Cleveland, a staff attorney for Earthjustice, the environmental law firm that won the case, said in an interview Tuesday that the deadline for the public comment period ended just a few days after the fires.

Earthjustice asked the state Department of Health to pause the process, which it did, to give the West Maui community time to grieve and deal with the fire’s aftermath.

Now, the law firm wants DOH to reopen the public comment period and schedule a public hearing, Cleveland said.

One of the goals of the NPDES permit is to have the treated wastewater, known as R1, reused in and around Lahaina for agricultural and landscaping purposes, rather than being dumped into the groundwater and finding its way to the ocean.

Tamara Paltin, the council member whose district includes Lahaina, asked about the timing of a public hearing on the NPDES permit.

Nakagawa said that would be up to DOH to schedule.

Council member Gabe Johnson sought clarity on whether the $2.6 million would be used for other wastewater treatment facilities on the island, and was told it would only be used for Lahaina wastewater treatment and reclamation.

Another topic that arose during Tuesday’s meeting was the proposed hiring of a public information officer for the Department of Environmental Management. The budget request seeks eight months of funding totaling $47,344.

Agawa said communicating with the public is an essential service but his department is short-staffed and has been overwhelmed by the myriad responsibilities of responding to the worst wildfire disaster in the country in over a century.

“We learned a lot during these disasters and one was that we needed to improve communication,” Agawa said.

“With our staff being so limited and wearing so many hats and multitasking, communication was not overlooked but we didn’t have the resources,” he said. “We were sorely needing that support.”

There’s not only a need for better communication with the public but also between the department and the mayor’s office.

“We want to make sure that the communication is clear, concise, valid and our staff just doesn’t have the time and resources to do that,” Agawa said.

The Department of Environmental Management’s overall budget request for fiscal 2025 is $114.6 million, about 5% more than last year’s.

The department’s biggest task in the coming year will be building a new landfill for final disposition of the Lahaina wildfire debris, which is expected to require increased effort for staff, outside consultants and funding.

The department’s Wastewater Reclamation Division is also expecting significant cost increases from a number of Lahaina pump stations that were damaged in the fire. Staff members are currently assessing potential collection system damage and impacts.

The council will continue its review of Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed $1.7 billion budget over the coming weeks, going department by department.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

Civil Beat’s coverage of environmental issues on Maui is supported by grants from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Hawaii Wildfires Recovery Fund, the Knight Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation.