MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- On May 6, Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) received a Notice of Violation and Order (NOVO) from the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) for permit violations at the installation’s Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) from August 2020 to February 2022. The permit authorizes the discharge of treated wastewater to the Pacific Ocean. The violations cited in the NOVO included discharging wastewater in exceedance of MCBH NPDES permit discharge limitations and a failure to report non-compliance with the facility’s permit to the DOH in a timely manner.
MCBH takes this NOVO and the deficiencies that led to it very seriously. Environmental stewardship is critical to our relationship with the local community.
MCBH’s WRF is currently operating effectively and treated wastewater is being discharged within all permit limits. MCBH is working to improve operations and oversight, upgrade our WRF to eliminate reoccurrence of these issues, and to more efficiently treat wastewater and implement additions to the facility that will reduce the overall water consumption of the installation. In advance of a hearing, MCBH is pursuing discussions with DOH to further the mutual understanding between our organizations regarding the violations and to develop an executable plan that will ensure future violations do not occur.
We continually seek to improve our installation and its facilities to meet the challenges of the future, ensuring environmental compliance as we move forward.
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PDF: MCBH receives Notice of Violation from the Hawaii Department of Health