Lāhainā Post-Wildfire Stormwater Mitigation & Infrastructure Rehabilitation

Following the devastating August 2023 wildfires in Lāhainā, EnviroServices & Training Center, LLC (ETC) mobilized alongside the U.S. EPA, FEMA, Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Maui County, the Federal Highway Administration, and Hawaiʻi DOT–Highways Maui District (HWY-M) to safeguard coastal waters and rehabilitate roadway infrastructure.

Rapid Response Contamination Mitigation

As HWY-M’s Stormwater Management Program Manager, ETC quickly and safely assessed the damage to DOT and Maui County infrastructure within the burn zone. Priority runoff areas with loose ash and soil were immediately identified were quickly stabilized with an environmentally safe soil tackifier by leveraging existing maintenance contracts. Simultaneously, ETC engineers assessed the State-owned and Federally-aided roadway segments that intersect the burn zone for rapidly available and easily deployable solutions to keep ash, heavy metals, and petroleum-based pollutants out of the storm drainage system and the Pacific Ocean. Through a combination of accelerated street sweeping, storm drain system cleaning, and deployment of customized Envirosoxx® for overland runoff filtration and inlet protection, our team successfully protected nearshore water quality.

Stormwater Capture, Convey, and Treatment System

As the winter rainy season quickly approached before potential burn zone pollutants could be completely stabilized or removed, ETC was asked to provide consultation and design a temporary stormwater treatment system that would collect contaminated runoff using the existing county drainage system. ETC engineers in collaboration with other partners designed a temporary aboveground conveyance system to divert upslope runoff to a geomembrane-lined basin converted from an existing drainage canal. The detained contaminated stormwater would then be treated using a customized modular treatment train system to remove suspended solids prior to discharge to the ocean.

Permanent Drainage & Highway Rehabilitation

ETC’s civil and environmental engineers are currently advancing long-term infrastructure repairs within the HWY-M right-of-way. Complete plans, specifications, and estimates have been produced to replace fire-damaged reinforced-concrete culverts and storm lines, raise and reconnect drainage structures, and repave or rehabilitate more than 12 miles of roadway along Honoapiʻilani Highway and connecting routes impacted by wildfire evacuations.