Clean Water Branch

NOTICE OF PROPOSED

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PERMIT FOR

OUTFALLS OF THE MANA PLAIN DRAINAGE DITCH SYSTEM

NPDES PERMIT NOS. HI 0021940 and HI 0021945

DOCKET NOS. HI 0021940 and HI 0021945

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

October 29, 2024 – November 29, 2024

The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH), Clean Water Branch (CWB) tentatively recommends to the Director of Health (Director) to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to comply with the judgments of several court cases (see Na Kia‘i Kai, et al. v. State of Hawaii, et al., 2016; Na Kia‘i Kai, et al. v. Nakatani, et al., 2019; Na Kia‘i Kai, et al. v. County of Kauai, et al., 2023; and Na Kia‘i Kai, et al. v. County of Kauai, et al., 2024). The draft permit proposes to regulate and impose water pollution control requirements on the discharge of groundwater from subsurface drainage, including seepage from agricultural field operations and septic systems; agricultural return flows; agricultural drainage storm water runoff; wastewater from industrial operations; and other storm water runoff, including runoff from non-permittee land west of the Waimea site to:

STATE OF HAWAII AGRIBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ADC)

AND COUNTY OF KAUAI

A permit for such discharge would expire five (5) years from the date of issuance. The facilities are located at: ADC’s Kekaha-Mana Plains Operations Site at 1‑7189 Kaumualii Highway, Kekaha, Hawaii 96752 and the County of Kauai’s 400-Acre Parcel Waimea Site located at 9281 Kaumualii Highway, Waimea, Hawaii 96796.

In Na Kia‘i Kai, et al. v. County of Kauai, et al., 2024, the settlement requires within three hundred sixty-five (365) days of the agreement, DOH/the Director of Health shall issue one or more draft NPDES permits for all outfalls of the Mana Plain Drainage Ditch System, including but not limited to the outfalls of Kīkīaola Harbor Drain, Kawaiʻele Outfall, Nohili Outfall, First Ditch, Second Ditch, and Cox Drain. Since the agreement identifies all outfalls, the discharge from Dry Ditch is included. The settlement also requires DOH/the Director of Health issue one or more final NPDES permits within one hundred eighty (180) days of public notice of such draft NPDES permit. A detailed summary of these cases is included in the fact sheet. The proposed permit covers discharge(s) from the Mana Plain Drainage System that was disclosed in the NPDES applications to be under ADC and County of Kauai control and contribute point source pollution to Kīkīaola Small Boat Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. The DOH proposes to issue the draft permit to ADC and the County of Kauai as co-permittees given that a portion of the Mana Plain Drainage System owned and operated by the County (which is indistinguishable from the remainder of the system in terms of agricultural activity) drains to the outfall in Kīkīaola Harbor. Therefore, to ensure that both ADC and the County are responsibly managing activities on land areas that they control, both Permittees are responsible for the total discharge from all seven (7) outfalls covered under the proposed permit.

The receiving waters for ADC’s Kekaha-Mana Plain Operations is the Pacific Ocean. The receiving waters for the County of Kauai’s 400-Acre Parcel Waimea Site discharges is the Kīkīaola Small Boat Harbor. Coordinates for the discharge points are specified in the permit.

Copies of the public notice permit recommended by CWB, fact sheet, and other information are available for public inspection, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) from 7:45 a.m. until 4:15 p.m., at the DOH Clean Water Branch office located at 2827 Waimano Home Road, Room 225, Pearl City, HI 96782 and the CWB Kauai District Health Office located at 3040 Umi Street, Lihue, Hawaii 96766. Copies may be bought. Electronic copies of the proposed public notice permit, fact sheet, and other information are also available online at https://health.hawaii.gov/cwb/clean-water-branch-home-page/public-notices-and-updates/.

The NPDES permit is a federal regulatory mechanism to control water pollution through the issuance of permits. The purpose of issuing an NPDES permit is to implement federal NPDES regulations and State NPDES rules to help protect human health and the environment by legally obligating the permit holders to comply with all requirements specified in the NPDES permit. Persons wishing to comment upon or object to the proposed NPDES permit or to request a public hearing, should read the proposed NPDES permit and fact sheet prior to submitting their comments or requests in writing no later than 30 calendar days after the date of this notice, either through E-mail at [email protected] or by mail at P.O. BOX 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801‑3378. All commentors shall provide their name, address, and email address. All commentors who believe any condition of the proposed NPDES permit is inappropriate or that the CWB’s tentative recommendation to issue the NPDES permit is inappropriate, must raise all reasonably ascertainable issues from the implementing federal NPDES regulations and provide the corresponding citations from Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

For more information or if you have special needs due to disability that will aid you in inspecting and/or commenting on the public notice permit and related information, please contact Mr. Reef Migita, Supervisor of the Engineering Section, Clean Water Branch, at the above address or (808) 586-4309 (Voice) as soon as possible before the end of the comment period. For those who use a TTY/TDD, please call through Sprint Relay Hawaii, at 1 711 or 1-877-447-5991. If a request for assistance is made after the end of the comment period, the CWB will try to fulfill the request, but cannot guarantee that the request can be fulfilled prior to a final determination.

All written comments and requests received on time will be considered. If the Director determines that there is significant public interest, a public hearing may be held after at least 30 calendar days of public notice.

If CWB believes, after considering all timely written comments and all oral comments at any public hearing that may be held, that no substantive changes to the conditions of the public notice permit are necessary or warranted, then CWB may recommend to the Director that the NPDES permit be issued.

Please notify anyone you know who would be interested in this matter.

DARRYL LUM, P.E.

                                                            Clean Water Branch Chief