Senate committees back University of Hawaii pilot to test decentralized wastewater technologies

The Senate Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the Environment voted to pass House Bill 736, House Draft 1, creating a three-year testing pilot at the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center to evaluate new individual wastewater system technologies.

Drea (Drea) Wong, assistant professor at the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center, described the proposed center as an open testing platform where companies and researchers could install candidate systems that would be fed by a sewage pipeline and monitored by university staff. The center would collect samples, analyze results, and generate reports for the Department of Health to use for certification decisions.

Ted Bolen, representing the Hawaii Reef and Ocean Center, testified in support and said the program’s aim is to reduce the cost of cesspool upgrades and to improve pollutant removal for the benefit of nearshore waters and reefs. Senator Fevella pressed witnesses on whether the research will address urgent localized impacts on the west side and asked for data that would show where cesspools pose the greatest risk; university witnesses pointed to prior Department of Health vulnerability assessments and said the testing program is intended to help expand affordable, certified alternatives.

Wong said the pilot request is roughly $745,000 for three years and would support graduate students, sampling, and analysis for two to three initial technology tests; future testing fees would be expected to cover platform costs if private entities participate. The committee discussed encouraging concurrent testing rather than strictly serial tests; the committee report will ask the center to consider running tests in parallel when feasible and to include the Genki ball microbe-based treatment among candidate technologies if proponents apply for testing.

Committee members emphasized the importance of keeping fees affordable so smaller firms and nonprofits can participate. Wong said each initial six-month continuous-operation testing period would likely take about nine months total including setup and analysis, and the pilot anticipates completing at least three technologies within three years; she added that with additional platforms multiple technologies could be tested simultaneously.

The committee recorded a motion to pass House Bill 736, House Draft 1, unamended. The motion passed with aye votes from the chair, vice chair, Senator Fukunaga, Senator Hashimoto and Senator Fevella. The committee asked that the committee report encourage concurrent testing and note consideration of Genki ball-style treatments as candidates for evaluation.

The vote advances the bill to the next steps in the legislative process, with the university and Department of Health identified as key partners for testing protocols and certification pathways.