Kaʻū News Briefs Jan. 13, 2025

GOODFELLOW BROS WILL BEGIN STAGING CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT, MATERIALS AND MANPOWER by the end of this month to begin installation of new wastewater collection lines and a sewer plant for Pāhala. Goodfellow and County of Hawai'i held a meeting Monday evening in Pāhala that drew about a dozen people in order to get to know the community, to explain noise and traffic impact and to give contact information to the public for any concerns and information on timelines and details on the project.

     The streets affected by the $31 million project are Pīkake, Huapala, Maile, 'Ilima, Hala, Hīnano and Hau where buildings are served by the old plantation sewer lines that cross from property to property for collection and delivery into now-illegal gang cesspools.

     The setup will involve establishing a baseyard along the mauka side of Maile Street between the old community clubhouse and Kawaiki - the old cane haul road. The baseyard will host construction materials and heavy equipment, along with a mobile office.

     Construction will involve much excavation, with digging and rock breaking with jack hammers to create the trenches for sewer lines in streets, some of them more than five feet deep. 

    The jack hammering noise will be limited to the hours of 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Fridays, though less noisy activity is expected to go on from 7 a.m. on the workdays.  The project is expected to last about 18 months. Other noise includes back up alarms on the machinery and the loading and unloading of materials. A water truck will be used to keep down dust.

     Representatives of Goodfellow said that there will be an attempt to keep one lane open on all affected streets. Traffic direction, signage and other onsite assistance will be provided. Trenches dug in the day will be filled before end of work, and where necessary, covered with metal plates for safety. Goodfellow representatives asked the community to encourage youth and everyone to stay away from equipment, whether or not it is in use, for the safety of residents and the construction crew. 

     The project will not only establish sewer lines on streets, it will also install lateral lines into yards for hookups. Three weeks notice will be given to homeowners before work begins on any property, said Goodfellow representatives. When the wastewater system is completed, the old sewer lines in the town will be abandoned.

     Goodfellow reps promised regular project updates and notification in media, including The Ka'u Calendar and its online platforms.

    The wastewater treatment  plant will be established at the corner of Maile Street - the pine tree lane - and Highway 11, extending to the macadamia processing plant.

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NEW TECH, FORTIFIED INFRASTRUCTURE, REDUCING HAZARDS AND EXPANDING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS will help Hawaiian Electric "significantly reduce the risk of a wildfire started by its equipment," according to Hawaiian Electric, which released its new Wildfire Safety Strategy document on Monday, after submitting it to the Public Utilities Commission on Jan. 10.
   The three-year safety blueprint is an expansion of a plan first created by Hawaiian Electric in 2019 and updated in 2023 in the months after the August 2023 windstorm and wildfires on Maui. "The enhanced plan, which was filed for review by the Public Utilities Commission, underscores the recent emergence of

Read the Wildfire Safety Strategy plan at
https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/
documents/safety_and_outages/wildfire_safety/
2025-2027_wildfire_safety_strategy.pdf

extreme weather events as requiring a coordinated effort by many organizations and supportive public policy to keep communities safe," says the Hawaiian Electric statement.
    "Our 2025-2027 expanded wildfire safety strategy builds upon our past work and that of many others. It is not just a technical roadmap, it is our shared and steadfast commitment to a safer, more resilient Hawai'i," said Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric. "We are thankful for the hundreds of stakeholders and partners – local, state and federal agencies, elected officials, landowners, businesses, community organizations, customers, peer utilities, and expert advisors – who have contributed to wildfire prevention efforts, including the work that has resulted in this plan. Through collective action and thoughtful approaches, Hawai'i can create a fire-safe environment for generations to come."
    The cost of the 2025-2027 plan is estimated at about $450 million, including $137 million budgeted for work in 2025. Some of the cost is already funded through existing programs, including a federal grant for grid resilience received in 2024. The company plans to continue refinement of the program and the long-term cost and scope of work are subject to change. Additional federal funding is being pursued, reported the utility company.
    The 179-page strategy was filed with the PUC on Jan. 10 for its review and acceptance. Many of the initiatives described are already underway, including this work completed in 2024:

    Replaced and upgraded 2,124 wood poles; Tested 5,805 poles; Replaced more than 23 miles of older overhead lines with new, more resilient lines; Installed 3,177 single-phase fault current indicators, which allow crews to more quickly locate disturbances on lines in high-risk areas;
    Installed 3,558 sparkless fuses, which help reduce the risk of ignition; Changed 213 substation relay settings to shut off power quickly if a disruption is detected.
    Hawaiian Electric also installed 53 weather stations in wildfire-prone areas on four islands to provide key information about wind, temperature and humidity to help the company better predict and respond to fire weather conditions. The weather stations, mounted on utility poles, provide meteorological data that will help the company decide whether to activate and deactivate a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS)
Installed 44 artificial intelligence-assisted high definition wildfire detection cameras
Installed 680 new lightning arrestors
    Hawaiian Electric listed additional initiatives to be completed in the next three years to include:
    Ongoing grid hardening, asset inspections and vegetation management focused on areas with medium to high risk of ignition.

    Deploy covered conductor in the highest risk areas. Covered conductor is heavy-duty insulating material placed on power lines to help prevent bare wires from sparking if they touch another line or fall to the ground.

    An initial undergrounding of about two miles of overhead power lines in critical safety areas in Lahaina with a community working group convened to provide area-specific knowledge and input;
    Replace, upgrade and strengthen poles and equipment;
    Enhance inspections of electrical assets;
    Expand hazard tree removal, create wider rights-of-way for vegetation clearing;

    Installing more weather stations and hazard-detection cameras;

    Add more weather stations and install additional standard AI-assisted video camera stations to enable 100% camera viewshed coverage of all high and medium wildfire risk areas;

   Create a wildfire-focused Watch Office that will monitor media reports, internal and external weather products and field reports to provide more situational awareness within Hawaiian Electric;
   Implement an operational wildfire risk model to inform real-time decision-making and refine the company's PSPS program.

   Hawaiian Electric promised ongoing engagement with stakeholders and communities and to continue convening Wildfire Safety Working Group meetings to bring experts together and share best practices;

and to continue partnerships with local organizations to host community events, reach individual residents and share resources.

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Kaʻū News Briefs Jan. 12, 2025

Location of the future $31 million wastewater treatment plant and collection lines near corner of Maile St. and Hwy 11.

A MEETING ON TRAFFIC CHANGES IN PAHALA FOR BUILDING NEW SEWER LINES is set for the Herkes Kaʻū District Gym at 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13. It is hosted by contractor Goodfellow Bros. and County of Hawai'i. They are building a new wastewater treatment plan and 
collection lines for the project which is expected to last for about 18 months.
    According to the project Implementation Plan, construction cost for the Pāhala Collection System Phase I & II funding has been secured in the amount of $30,922,272 (COH-DEM was recently awarded ARPA funds for the Collection System Phase I & Phase II construction), in combination with County General fund via GO bonds. The WWTP facility will be funded through County General Fund via GO bonds.
    Read the Implementation Plan at www.dem.hawaiicounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/308434.
    The Implementation Plan describes planning, design, and construction schedule for the package wastewater treatment plant and new collection system, following EPA’s approval of the Final Environmental Information Document.

    The County is overseeing the design and engineering, and the acquisition of necessary land and easements, for the collection system, treatment plant, and disposal system. Owners of homes in the affected area will have received via USPS a right-of-entry agreement for the construction of the new collection system. The County asked owners sign the agreement and return it to the County in the enclosed envelope.
    The final deadline for the County to close the large capacity cesspools is January 22, 2027. Those cesspools are illegal nationally and are left over from the sugar plantation days.

VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH organizers at U.S. Geological Survey invite the public to a session called Kīlauea Volcanos Changing Summit. It will be held this Tuesday, Jan. 14 from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. at Uēkahuna parking lot in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Learn about collapse of volcano’s summit caldera, Kaluapele, activity in the volcano’s rift zones, current status of Kīlauea and what might be coming next. Free event. Park fees apply.

 

Kaʻū News Briefs Jan. 11, 2025

    

Ground tilt and eruptive episodes associated with Kīlauea summit eruption Dec. 23, 2024 until Jan. 10, 2025. Eruptive episodes

are highlighted in red. Fountain Episode 1 (E1) began at 2:20 a.m. HST on Dec. 23 and continued until 4 p.m. that day (14 hours duration).​ Fountain Episode 2 (E2) began at 8 a.m. HST on Dec. 24, 2024, and continued until 11 a.m. HST on Dec. 25 (15 hours duration). ​Fountain Episode 3 (E3) began at 8 a.m. HST on Dec. 26, 2024, and continued until 8:30 p.m. HST on Jan. 3, 2025 

(eight and a half days duration).​ Assuming the eruptive vent(s) remains open, indicated by continued glow and degassing, and inflation rate remains constant, a new episode could potentially begin sometime soon, when ground tilt at Uēkahuna is expected

to reach 12 microradians, about double prior post-fountain tilt increases.

USGS image and graph

AN ERUPTIVE STYLE WITH THREE EPISODES OF LAVA FOUNTAINING, SEPARATED BY PAUSE at Kīlauea within Halemaʻumaʻu is the focus of the latest Volcano Watch, the weekly article by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists and affiliates. USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists are reviewing patterns of past eruptions and current monitoring data to forecast what could happen next at Kīlauea.
    Episodic eruptions have occurred before on Kīlauea at the start of the 1983 Puʻuʻōʻō and the 1969 Maunaulu eruptions (44 and 12 episodes each) on the middle East Rift Zone, and during the 1959 Kīlauea Iki summit eruption (17 episodes). While the recent Kīlauea summit eruption is currently paused, persistent night glow from the vent and continued strong degassing indicate molten magma is probably within 150–300 feet (50–100 meters) of the surface within the vent.
    Sufficient pressure could push magma up to the surface to start another eruptive episode. Fountaining is driven by rapid volume expansion of gas in fresh lava but is commonly preceded by periods of eruption of sluggish degassed flows. Dense degassed material is pushed out of the vent like a cork from a champagne bottle, allowing gas-rich magma to rise rapidly and fountain.
    Episodes are marked by the onset of lava fountains and rapid deflation of the source magma chamber. Pauses between fountain episodes are usually accompanied by reinflation of the summit. A new episode begins when the system builds up enough pressure to force magma to the surface again.
    The main feature of episodic eruptions is their repeatability, which allows patterns to be identified. Inflation following episodes 1 and 2 of the recent eruption at the summit of Kīlauea resulted in 6 microradians of ground tilt a tiltmeter north of the caldera, near Uēkahuna bluff, indicating the pressure increase required at that time for the eruption to resume.

On the morning of Jan. 10, 2025, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff conducted a monitoring overflight of Kīlauea summit. Lava was visible within both the North and South vents that were active during the recent Kīlauea summit eruption that began on December 23, 2024. Although the eruption has remained paused since the evening of January 3, 2025, glow has since persisted from these inactive vents on the southwest part of the caldera floor. USGS photo by L. DeSmither

    Following episode 3, Kīlauea has inflated and the 6 microradian level was reached about 4:30 p.m. HST Wednesday, January 8 afternoon (5 days after episode 3 paused on Friday, January 3 at 8:40 p.m. HST). That amount of inflation had been the minimum amount of pressure required previously for this eruption to restart. However, the large deflation that accompanied the prolonged fountaining of episode 3 suggests the system might need more inflation to reach the pressure necessary for eruptive activity to resume.
    The longer the vent sits without eruption, the more time magma within the vent has to cool and it could reach a point that the eruption can’t restart. Assuming the vent remains open, indicated by continued glow and degassing, and inflation rate remains constant, a new episode could potentially begin sometime between Jan. 8 and Jan. 13, when ground tilt at Uēkahuna is expected to reach 12 microradians, about double prior post-fountain tilt increases.
    HVO scientists have been developing tools estimate times of high probabilities of eruptions occurring on Kīlauea for the past several years. Complex models using GPS monitoring data have been created to track when the summit approached pressurization levels similar to previous eruptions.
    Models run in October of 2024 indicated that Kīlauea was likely to reach pressurization levels where an eruption could happen between mid-December 2024 and mid-January 2025. This model also relies on the eruption being preceded by increasing numbers of earthquakes in the region where the eruption is most probable.
    “Windows” of high probability for new eruptions or new fountaining episodes aren’t true forecasts. A forecast requires knowing what will happen, where it will happen, and most importantly, an accurate estimate of when it will happen. Forecasting when an eruption will happen is the most difficult part but is very important so communities have more time to prepare if needed.
    Whenever HVO raises alert levels to ORANGE/WATCH, we are issuing a more precise forecast for a pending eruption or intrusion within minutes to hours near the summit or hours to days further along Kīlauea’s rift zones.
    HVO scientists are constantly improving models of volcanic behavior—past, present and future—which allows us to forecast eruption time windows with greater accuracy and longer advance warning. This is an essential part of HVO’s mission to reduce the impacts of volcanic eruptions and communicate the results of our work to emergency managers and the public.

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Volcano Activity Updates
Kīlauea is erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert level is ADVISORY.
Eruptive activity at vents in the southwest portion of Kīlauea caldera paused the evening of Jan. 3, 2025. Low inflationary tilt at the summit since then suggests that the eruption could resume in the coming days to weeks, and lava was observed within the inactive vents during a monitoring overflight the morning of January 10. Recent eruptive activity has been confined to Halemaʻumaʻu and the down-dropped block within the caldera. No unusual activity has been noted along Kīlauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. Sulfur dioxide emission rates are elevated in the summit region during eruptive activity. Earthquake rates in the Southwest Rift Zone and upper to middle East Rift Zone remained comparable to the previous week. Ground deformation rates outside of the summit region remained steady.
    Mauna Loa is not erupting. Volcano Alert Level is at NORMAL.

    Three earthquakes were reported felt in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week: a M3.0 earthquake 10 km (6 mi) S of Waikoloa at 23 km (14 mi) depth on Jan. 7 at 9:44 a.m. HST, a M2.7 earthquake 11 km (6 mi) SSW of Leilani Estates at 6 km (4 mi) depth on Jan. 4 at 3:14 a.m. HST, and a M3.0 earthquake 39 km (24 mi) SE of Nāʻālehu at 30 km (19 mi) depth on Jan. 2 at 4:18 p.m. HST.
HVO continues to closely monitor Kīlauea and Mauna Loa.
    Visit HVO’s website for past Volcano Watch articles, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake information, and more. Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov