The Maui County Council passed universal municipal wastewater disinfection 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, the Kihei Wastewater Reclamation Facility has already completed installation of a new ultraviolet disinfection channel with capacity to treat all the injection well effluent discharges from Kihei WWRF, but fecal indicator bacteria readings in effluent remain above the detection limit for the test in the most recent Underground Injection Control Program monitoring of injection well discharges.

When queried, the Maui County Department of Environmental Management disclosed that they are planning to implement fixes to “pinch points” in Kihei WWRF plumbing that are preventing disinfection of all injection well discharges, with the installation of remaining necessary upgrades for 100% R-1 at the Kihei WWRF starting as soon as FY2027 or July, 2026, to eliminate the release of disease-causing pathogens from municipal injection wells in South Maui for good.

The Kahului WWRF, according to a Maui County official in official Council testimony, will require up to $20 million in further investment to realize 100% UV disinfection and 100% R-1 effluent quality. A recent public document request response from the County of Maui Department of Environmental Management cites official project CBS-1169 and promises construction on 100% UV disinfection capacity for the Kahului-Wailuku Wastewater Reclamation Facility to begin as soon as January, 2029.

Now it’s time for a statewide version of Maui County’s Bill 52 that would mandate universal disinfection and treatment to R-1 standards for all municipal wastewater discharges by all State and County operated wastewater treatment and reclamation facilities across Hawaii. Effluent water quality testing results describing fecal indicator bacteria levels measured in wastewater effluent produced by all statewide municipal disposal methods were recently added to www.FlushAware.com and indicate a wide range of disinfection treatment levels and resultant pathogen threat in effluent discharging from municipal plants across the island.

The State of Hawaii urgently needs a uniform wastewater effluent quality mandate that requires treatment of all municipal discharges to the Hawaii State Department of Health R-1 standard — including reef-safe disinfection.

There is no acceptable place to release disease-causing pathogens into the environment of our unique island ecosystems or recreation areas.

Whether effluent is reused or discharged to surface water, groundwater, or the ocean, all municipal effluent discharged in Hawaii should be completely disinfected first.

A statewide law could be modeled after the legal structure successfully developed in collaboration with community activists, the Maui County Council, the Maui County Department of Environmental Management, and the Honorable Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr.

Reef Power LLC collaborated with a Maui state senator on an official bill SB2971 that was introduced to the 33rd legislature in January, 2026.

We plan to try again next year for a reintroduction of a statewide municipal wastewater disinfection mandate!

The information on this page describes policy proposals and legislative concepts for public discussion and advocacy purposes.

For policymakers, researchers, or community organizations interested in advancing these solutions, Reef Power welcomes collaboration and technical discussion.