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The Conversation

The Conversation: A call-in show on cesspools

By Yunji de Nies
Published January 9, 2026 at 9:33 AM HST
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FILE -- This Jan. 26, 2015 photo provided by the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources shows a partially exposed cinderblock cesspool pit with a lid on a badly eroding shoreline in Punaluʻu, Hawaiʻi.
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources
/
AP
FILE -- This Jan. 26, 2015, photo provided by the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources shows a partially exposed cinderblock cesspool pit with a lid on a badly eroding shoreline in Punaluʻu, Hawaiʻi.

Today on the program, we're taking stock of the state's progress toward converting all cesspools by 2050.

Of the roughly 88,000 cesspools in the state, more than half are located on Hawaiʻi Island.

Hawaiʻi Island will be our focus today. Our panel includes:

  • Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda
  • Stuart Coleman, executive director of Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations
  • Greg Asner, director of Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science

Have comments or questions to share with our guests? Send a note to talkback@hawaiipublicradio.org. You can also leave a voicemail on our talkback line: 808-792-8217.

From left to right: Greg Asner, Yunji de Nies, Stuart Coleman, and Kimo Alameda.
HPR
From left to right: Greg Asner, Yunji de Nies, Stuart Coleman, and Kimo Alameda.

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