The Maui County Council passed the legislation with second and final reading on Friday, January 12, 2024. Mayor Bissen signed ordinance 5592 into law on January 21, 2024.

The new law mandates 100% of municipal effluent in Maui County to be disinfected and treated to R-1 standards by January 1, 2039:

"Starting January 1, 2039,

municipal wastewater effluent

produced by the County must meet

Hawaii State R-1 reuse water standards.

The Council must allocate sufficient funding

for the implementation of this subsection

so that its requirements will be met

by the implementation stated above."

Even though the law has a 15-year implementation timeline, Bill 52 discussions have supported decisions by the County of Maui Department of Environmental Management to restart chlorine disinfection of injection well discharges at the Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility. In South Maui, the Kihei Wastewater Reclamation Facility has completed installation of a new ultraviolet disinfection channel to treat the injection well flows. The system is anticipated to be certified and activated by March, 2024.

Here is the ADEPT Bill 52 Committee Report

Watch Council hearings live on Akaku Channel 53:

www.akaku.org/channel-53/

Follow @reefpowermaui to stay updated on future hearings.

Please contact Maui decision makers here , you can email all 9 Maui County Council Members with a single click!

Send your thanks to the Maui County Department of Environmental Management for investing the work to realize 100% municipal wastewater disinfection in Maui, with this KudoBoard