Another step forward.
On my trip to Hawaii in July/August I have successfully completed the installation of a septic system on the property. This is in preparation of building the house.
Most homes in Hawaii outside the major cities, have a cesspool; a large hole in the ground where the sewage from the toilet, kitchen, bathroom, etc drains and is collected. This is a typical cesspool:
Periodically, this cesspool needs to be pumped out and the sewage hauled away. Many never do that. Many depend on the cesspool to be leaky and the liquids leak out into the ground around the cesspool while the solids stay in the tank. This is not all bad, as the solids slowly break down and flow out with the liquids. Depending on how “leaky” the cesspool is, it can be a very workable solution, or a stinky mess if the solids leak out before breaking down.
Hawaii has mandated that by the year 2050 all homes will either be connected to an approved sewage treatment system or they will have an Individual Waste Water System – a septic tank with leach field (an IWS). That will be an expensive item for these homes to complete as they will have to replace the cesspool with a septic system.
A septic system is quite common. I have designed and installed quite a few. Typically, they have cost less than $5K. This one cost me $10,000.00 – That’s Hawaii for you!
Additionally, I had to hire an engineer to submit the drawings to the state of Hawaii Department of Health (DOH). Another $1200.00 cost! In other locations I was able to draw the plans myself.
The engineer copied my design into his template along with the legal/engineering wording and layout and submitted it to the State Department of Health. Within a few weeks, he had the approval letter which is basically the permit.
I began contacting septic system contractors. Past systems, in other municipalities, I have installed myself, but here in Hawai’i, they require that you pay exorbitant prices to contractors who have paid a bribe to the County/State in order to be on their “approved” list. Anything to force you to support the local economy. However, the engineer was located in Colorado, and had simply filled out the necessary forms and paid the bribe to be included on their list. Such is life!
I settled on a contractor out of Kona. Actually, I think he is located in Naalehu but has a Kona business address for some reason. Strange. I contacted him on my last trip, but I was not staying long enough for him to do the job, so when I returned in late July, I contacted him and got on his schedule.
I had to pay him a large deposit up front, but I guess that is standard. I talked with a neighbor down the road who had just used this contractor and that was the way it happened with him.
Equipment arrives
Apparently, there cannot be any trees within 10 feet of the finished system, so the first thing they did was knock down a bunch of trees and create a large clearing. I think that they just wanted the “elbow” room in which to maneuver. This did open up the view to the ocean though! One night, I climbed on top of the excavator to see what the view might be from the house. Not bad!
Then he got in position to start digging!
Not much digging – more hammering on the rock to loosen it up to get it out
Hammering and hammering.
This is the result of the first day’s hammering and digging.
They need to dig two holes – one for the tank that is about 12 feet long and 5 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The other is for the leach field. It needs to be about four feet away from the tank and it must measure 12 feet by 12 feet by 6 feet deep.
The hole for the Tank
They brought in the tank on the back of a truck. Then they used the excavator to lift it off the truck and set it into the hole.
Then came a load of volcanic cinders to back fill around the tank. Before placing the tank, they put a layer of cinders in the bottom for the tank to rest on.
Then came more cinders for the bottom of the leach field. Using a laser level, they marked on the sides of the hole, where the level of cinders needed to be filled to.
Once the cinders were spread and leveled out, they placed the leach lines and the distribution box. They propped these up on short pieces of pipe so that when they put in the leach rock (rock sized bout 2 or three inches in diameter) it would suppound the pipes.
They filled the hole to the top of the leach lines with this leach rock.
Then covered it with a cloth membrane to keep the fine dirt from filtering into the l;each rock and clogging it up.
Using the smaller rock and dirt that was dug out, they carefully covered the membrane.
Then backfilled with the larger rocks.
At this point, it sat for a week. I got a phone call from the contractor wanting to get paid the balance. I asked if the Health Department had approved the system. Had the final inspection been done? and did it pass?
They told me “The Health Department does not do that. The Engineer does. “
“Well, has the engineer inspected it and approved it?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s all approved. We sent him the videos we took as we were doing the work and the final results and he approved it”
“That’s great! So, do you have a certificate of approval, or a completion certificate from the Engineer? Even just an email?” I asked.
“It was all verbal”
“Well, I will need the system completed and I need something from the Engineer or the Health Department saying it is complete.”
“Well, not yet, because we still need to fill the tank with water, and take measurements of where it actually sits on the property. Distances from the property lines.”
“So, it is not done yet. Well, you need to get that done before I can pay the final payment”
“I’ll have someone out there today to do that”
“I’ll also need something from the engineer certifying that is has passed. When I applied for the building permit for the house, they wanted me to provide them a document from the State Department of Health stating that it was an approved system”
“That comes from the Engineer.”
“OK, I’ll still need that from the engineer first”
“I’ll call him”
After that phone call, I texted the Engineer asking him about the final inspection, and if the system was approved. He texted me that after he received the photos and the videos from the contractor he would review them and upload his approval to the State Department of Health website. He had not received this from the contractor yet.
About an hour later, two guys showed up with a tanker of water and filled the septic tank. Then they took measurements.
The next day, I received a text from the Engineer that the system had been approved, and in about a month I should get the certificate from the Department of Health. Nobody from the Department of Health ever came out to inspect. The engineer has never been out to my property – he is in Colorado! But he inspected and passed the septic system! What a Mickey Mouse way of doing things! Welcome to Hawaii!
TTFN!
TropicalCastaway 