The state Department of Education has agreed to retrofit large-capacity cesspools at 67 public schools statewide over the next two years at a cost of $22 million to comply with federal regulations.

State lawmakers appropriated $11 million this year to start the sewage-disposal system project, officials said. Large-capacity cesspool removal is under way at two schools, Moloka'i High and Waihe'e Elementary on Maui, while 11 other projects are in the design stage. Five retrofits have been completed.

The remaining 49 projects, pending funding, should be completed by the end of next year to fulfill the DOE's agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA said.

The agreement is among a series designed to address the state's estimated 2,300 large-capacity cesspools, which were banned effective April 5, 2005, by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The shutdowns were ordered to prevent pathogens from entering groundwater, streams and oceans through the discharge of raw sewage into the ground.

The regulations are only for large-capacity cesspools, not single-dwelling facilities. EPA officials have said cesspool use in Hawai'i is more widespread than in any other state in the nation.

Last week, two agreements between EPA and Hawai'i county were announced concerning the closing of 133 cesspools at a cost of $20 million. Other agreements include efforts by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to address 60 large-capacity cesspools at a cost of $16.5 million.

Owners whose cesspools are in violation of federal regulations face fines of up to $32,500 a day until they comply by either closing the facilities or replacing them.

EPA officials said the effort to shut down the illegal cesspools is proceeding as they expected, although the agency didn't set a specific timetable for completion of the project.

"Right now, we're where we want to be, we're where we expected to be, and things are moving along satisfactorily," said Mark Merchant, EPA spokesman in San Francisco.

EPA-Pacific Islands spokesman Dean Higuchi said the Hawai'i inventory of large-capacity cess-pools is about 2,300, with 525 identified on O'ahu.

'TALK TO US'

Although the April 5 deadline for compliance has passed, Higuchi stressed that the EPA is not closing down houses or buildings or telling people not to use bathrooms if they are in violation.

"What we're saying is come in, talk to us and try to work out a plan to get in compliance," Higuchi said. "There are ways to do it. That's been our message since April. It's all about how to get in compliance."

The DOE's agreement involves eight public schools on O'ahu: La'ie Elementary, Waialua Elementary and Nanakuli High & Intermediate, whose retrofits are in the design stage, and Kahalu'u, Blanche Pope, Waimanalo, Ka'a'awa and Sunset Beach elementary schools, which are future projects.

The retrofits involve either hooking up to a sewer system if one is nearby or installing septic tanks and/or leach fields.

Although many cesspool agreements have involved government agencies, many large-capacity cesspools are privately owned, and some owners are still scrambling to comply.

TAX INCENTIVE

The city is offering a property tax credit as an incentive to retrofit large-capacity cesspools, said council chairman Donovan Dela Cruz.

On the 400 block of Kailua Road, Gail Berengue and other landlords say they are trapped in a no-win situation because of the new federal law, an expiring lease and lack of options.

Berengue is the managing owner of Town and Country Apartments at 459 Kailua Road. She and her sisters, Sylvia Kruse and Karen Edwards of California, hold the lease on four two-story buildings and have 48 rental units.

There are five other apartment buildings on the same block. All have large-capacity cesspools and 50-year leases with Castle Family Estate, formerly Kane'ohe Ranch, that expire in December 2006.

'STUCK WITH MESS'

The EPA is allowing Berengue to use the existing large-capacity cesspool until her lease expires if she agrees to fill in the cesspool according to EPA regulations and unhook all the apartments at the end. In addition, Berengue cannot rent any vacant apartment once a renter moves out.

"In 50 years, the city failed to provide us with a sewage system and that's why we're in this situation now," said Berengue, who said it would cost $30,000 to put in a septic tank. "With all this government, we're stuck with a mess.

"All I want is to be able to rent apartments until the end of the lease. Right now, I got four affordable apartments ($850 rent per month) boarded up and there are thousands of people who need housing on the street.

"I think the EPA should be more understanding. The city has not dealt with it in 50 years and has no option and they're just trying to pass this (cesspool issue) off to the private sector to handle."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser .com. Staff writer Will Hoover contributed to this report.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.