NOTICE OF CLEAN WATER BRANCH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PERMIT FOR
YACHT HARBOR TOWERS,
NPDES PERMIT NO. HI0020346

The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH), Clean Water Branch (CWB) tentatively recommends to the Director of Health (Director) to renew a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to regulate and impose water pollution control requirements on the discharge of once-through noncontact cooling water from Yacht Harbor Towers (Facility), to receiving State waters, subject to special conditions, to:

ASSOCIATION OF UNIT OWNERS YACHT HARBOR TOWERS (Permittee)

A permit for such discharge would expire five (5) years from the date of issuance. The Facility is located at 1600 Ala Moana Boulevard in Honolulu, Island of Oahu, Hawaii and consists of two towers with a total of 459 residential condominium units and three commercial units. The Permittee operates a chilled water system to provide air conditioning for all units. Onsite wells supply water that is pumped through a heat exchanger to cool refrigerant in the chiller units. The heated noncontact cooling water is then discharged into the Ala Wai Canal through Outfall Serial No. 001 at latitude 21°17’17.82"N and longitude 157°50’22.94"W. The maximum daily discharge rate is 1.6 million gallons per day (MGD).
The receiving waters, Ala Wai Canal, is designated as “Class 2, Estuary” under Hawaii Administrative Rules Section 11-54-3(b)(2). Protected beneficial uses of Class 2 waters include recreation and the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife.
Persons wishing to comment upon or object to the CWB recommendations with respect to an NPDES permit or to request a public hearing, should submit their comments or requests in writing no later than 30 calendar days after the date of this notice, either through E-mail at cleanwaterbranch@doh.hawaii.gov or by mail at P.O. BOX 3378, Honolulu, Hawaii 96801-3378.
Copies of the public notice permit recommended by CWB and other information are available for public inspection, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) from 7:45 a.m. until 4:15 p.m., at the DOH-CWB office located at 2827 Waimano Home Road, Room 225, Pearl City, HI 96782. Copies may be bought. Electronic copies of the proposed public notice permit and other information are also available online at https://health.hawaii.gov/cwb/clean-water-branch-home-page/public-notices-and-updates/.
For more information or if you have special needs due to a disability that requires aid in inspecting and/or commenting on the public notice permit and related information, please contact Mr. Reef Migita, Supervisor of the Engineering Section, CWB, at the above address or (808) 586-4309 (Voice) as soon as possible before the end of the comment period. For those who use a TTY/TDD, please call through Sprint Relay Hawaii, at 1 711 or 1-877-447-5991. If a request for assistance is made after the end of the comment period, the CWB will try to fulfill the request, but cannot guarantee that the request can be fulfilled prior to a final determination.
All written comments and requests received on time will be considered. If the Director determines that there is significant public interest, a public hearing may be held after at least 30 calendar days of public notice.
If CWB believes, after considering all timely written comments and all oral comments at any public hearing that may be held, that no substantive changes to the conditions of the public notice permit are necessary or warranted, then CWB may recommend to the Director that the NPDES permit be issued.
Please notify anyone you know who would be interested in this matter.

DARRYL LUM, P.E.
Clean Water Branch Chief
(SA1462529 7/24/24)