Seeing the state Department of Education out front in the effort to change the state's image as the cesspool capital of the nation is encouraging. Let's hope other large-capacity cesspool owners follow suit.

The DOE has agreed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to close 320 large-capacity cesspools that serve 60 public schools by March 31. Those schools will eventually get long-overdue upgrades and, when possible, get hooked into a sewer system.

The upgrades are in response to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which banned large-capacity underground cesspools in 2005. To comply with that law, an estimated 4,000 cesspools in Hawai'i must be shut down. That's just a fraction of the more than 150,000 cesspools of all sizes in the state, making Hawai'i the state with more cesspools than any other in the nation.

Clearly that's a distinction we can do without. Cesspools leak untreated sewage into the environment, threatening our groundwater, oceans and streams. It's bad for residents who are exposed to disease-causing pathogens. And it's bad for our tourism industry, which depends on visitors lured by the idea of a pristine paradise.

So far compliance has been slow. The EPA says it has agreements covering nearly 900 large-capacity cesspools. But there still are at least 600 of these large cesspools whose owners have failed to come forward.

Let's hope the DOE's prompt action motivates other large-capacity cesspool owners to comply quickly.