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EPA talks dismal state of the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant

Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Administrator Martha Guzman, right, with The Conversation host Catherine Cruz at Hawaiʻi Public Radio on May 16, 2024. Guzman is based in San Francisco.
Hawaiʻi Public Radio
EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman, right, with The Conversation host Catherine Cruz at Hawaiʻi Public Radio on May 16, 2024.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reached a consent decree with Hawai’i County on its aging sewage system, including the Hilo treatment plant. EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman was in the islands last week.

We sat down with Guzman to talk about the dismal state of the Hilo facility. She said the only other plant in worse condition is in California near the Mexico border. She also addressed the slow conversion from cesspools to septic tanks or something more environmentally sound.

Listen back to her interview about rebuilding Lahaina.

This interview aired on The Conversation on May 24, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.

Catherine Cruz is the host of The Conversation. Originally from Guam, she spent more than 30 years at KITV, covering beats from government to education. Contact her at ccruz@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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