Report: 17,000 truckloads of ash and debris transported from Lahaina to Temporary Debris Storage Site in Olowalu

The West Maui Temporary Debris Storage (TDS) site environmental monitoring quarterly report for the second 90-day operational period shows the findings from sampling and monitoring comply with county, state and federal environmental regulations, county officials said.

The second Quarterly Report was presented to the community July 17 during the County of Maui Disaster Recovery Community Update Meeting at Lahaina Civic Center. The full report can be found online at www.mauirecovers.org/debris-containment.

Highlights of the second report include:

• More than 1,375 residential and commercial properties have been cleared of more than 300,000 tons of ash and debris in Lahaina.
• More than 17,000 truckloads of ash and debris have been taken from Lahaina to the TDS site.
• There have been no exceedances of health-based Action Levels in air-quality monitoring.
• There have been no events of any leachate leaving the lined basin, thus no suspected or potential impacts to groundwater or nearby waterways.
• All stormwater run-off/run-on Best Management Practices (BMPs) are functioning and inspected regularly.
• US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) installed two groundwater monitoring wells around the TDS site with the results of the first sample taken July 7, 2024. Results of this sample are expected next week and will be available in the site monitoring data that is posted every few weeks. Samples will be collected quarterly in future months.
• USACE will continue the environmental monitoring, and data will be reported the same ways every 90 days for the duration of the right-of-entry (ROE) agreement. 

The second report follows the first one, which was released April 10. The third quarterly report will be submitted by Oct. 16, 2024.

On Jan. 21, 2024, the Maui County Council approved Ordinance 5596, also known as Bill 120, which granted USACE and its contractors ROE to utilize two parcels located in Olowalu, West Maui, as the Temporary Debris Storage site for ash and debris from the Aug. 8 wildfires in Lahaina.

Bill 120 requires that best efforts be used to protect against the runoff of debris or leachate from the TDS site to the ocean, including through run-on and run-off control, groundwater-detection monitoring, air quality monitoring, stormwater-pollution prevention, and maintenance of adequate documentation, record keeping and transparent public reporting on these efforts.

The data from this sampling and monitoring is publicly available, consistent with chapter 92F, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes. Find information at the Maui Recovers Debris Containment page: www.mauirecovers.org/debris-containment.