Ask the Mayor: Can I Empty My Pool Into a Storm Drain?

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the questions submitted to his staff.

Submit your own questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa at AskTheMayor@mauicounty.gov, (808) 270-7855 or mail them to 200 S. High St., 9th Floor, Wailuku, HI 96793.

Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the “Ask the Mayor” column.

Mr. Mayor,

Q: What are the laws regarding draining a swimming pool? Can a pool owner discharge the water into the storm drains on the street?

A: You have asked a very good question and to provide you with the answer, I had staff follow up with our Wastewater Reclamation Division of the Department of Environmental Management and the State of Hawai‘i Department of Health.

To answer your main question, the disposal of swimming pool discharge water into storm drains is not allowed by the Clean Water Act, due to the chlorine or other minerals in the water.

According to our Wastewater Reclamation Division of the Department of Environmental Management, “Swimming pools are not allowed to discharge to the public wastewater system,” per Maui County Code 14.25A.040 – Prohibited connections and 14.21A.015 – Prohibited discharge standards.

Also the state Department of Health, Hawai‘i Administrative Rules, 11-10, “Public Swimming Pools.” which only covers public pools such as community, hotel, condo, therapeutic pools, etc., and not private pools, states: “The disposal of public pool water shall be free of chlorine. The water may be used for watering the lawn and plants or have another disposal method approved by the director for the state Department of Health. Disposal must not create a nuisance such as ponding and/or mosquito breeding.”