Fellows mentioned in this story: Stuart Coleman

From Civil Beat:

A state mandate that all of the tens of thousands of cesspools in the islands must be converted to septic tanks — or connected to sewer systems — by 2050 is causing financial concerns for residents and logistical challenges for state and local lawmakers.

Those concerns were on display this week as residents decried the mandate — and the costs they face to get rid of their cesspools — during a Kauai town hall meeting attended by about 60 residents, along with three Kaua‘i state representatives and other officials, in Puhi.

“This is about public health, it is about the environment, it is about our drinking water, and it is particularly about our nearshore waters,” said Stuart Coleman, executive director of the nonprofit organization Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations.

WAI has worked with state legislators to create laws to help solve the cesspool problem in Hawai‘i. Nearly 88,000 cesspools dump some 53 million gallons of raw sewage into the ground statewide each day, which can eventually contaminate natural resources such as drinking water.

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