Valley Isle Pumping is seeking the green light for a $1.5 million project to construct a new wastewater pretreatment facility and improve an existing wastewater treatment plant, along with related upgrades, on private land in Pulehunui Industrial Park.

The draft environmental assessment was published Sept. 7 in the Office of Environmental Quality Control’s “The Environmental Notice.”

The new facility would process private domestic wastewater generated offsite before its treatment at the Pulehunui Industrial Park’s wastewater treatment plant.

Also, improvements to the existing plant would increase capacity from its current maximum of 20,000 gallons per day to about 40,000 gpd in order to handle increased flow from the new pretreatment facility.

The 1.3-acre portion proposed for the new facility is located on a 2.89-acre parcel owned by 2Q LLC and leased by Valley Isle Pumping. The existing wastewater treatment plant is located on about 1 acre of a 9.68-acre parcel owned by CMBY 2011 Investment LLC.

Once approvals are gained, project construction would take three months, the document said.

A draft environmental assessment is triggered by the proposal of any wastewater treatment unit that serves more than 50 single-family dwellings or the equivalent.

Located next to the Maui Raceway Park off Maui Veterans Highway, the 86-acre, 28-lot Pulehunui Industrial Park offers heavy industrial uses such as construction and lumber baseyards, manufacturing, recycling, stockpiling, crushing and heavy equipment storage.

To view the full draft EA, visit http://oeqc2.doh.hawaii.gov/Doc_Library/2020-09-08-MA-DEA-Wastewater-Improvements-at-Pulehunui.pdf. Comments are due by Oct. 8 and should be sent to the approving agency, the county Department of Public Works, by mail at 200 S. High St., fourth floor, Wailuku, 96793; by phone at 270-7845 or by email at public.works@mauicounty.gov.

The applicant and consultant should also be copied. Applicant Valley Isle Pumping can be reached by mail at 231-A Lower Kula Road, Kula, 96768; by phone at 280-5505; or by email at sal@valleyislepumping.com.

Consultant Munekiyo Hiraga can be reached by mail at 305 High St., Suite 104, Wailuku, 96793; by phone at 244-2015; or by email at planning@munekiyohiraga.com.

* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.