Septic Installation & Cesspool Conversion in Hawaiian Beaches & Hawaiian Shores
We install septic systems and convert cesspools in Hawaiian Beaches and Hawaiian Shores, about 15 to 20 minutes from our equipment yard in Keaau. These two neighboring subdivisions are both near the coast, but septic in Hawaiian Beaches and septic in Hawaiian Shores can start from different places. One is a large census community running from Highway 130 to the ocean. The other is an association-run neighborhood with its own private water system, and possibly more than that.
The Numbers Behind the Two Neighborhoods
- Hawaiian Beaches population: 3,976 in the 2020 Census, in 1,509 households.
- Hawaiian Beaches housing: 1,783 housing units in 2020, with 15.4 percent vacant. Vacant and part-time homes still have cesspools that fall under the 2050 deadline.
- Location: Highway 130 forms the western edge. Hawaiian Paradise Park is to the north, Pahoa and Nanawale Estates to the south, and the Pacific to the east.
- Elevation: about 256 feet at the census reference point, dropping to sea level at the coast.
- Hawaiian Shores: nearly 1,300 residential lots, run by the Hawaiian Shores Community Association, which has held its tax exemption since 1971. The Census does not count Hawaiian Shores as its own place.
- Shores water: a private association water system serving a population of about 1,360, per DOH’s drinking water program.
- Lava hazard zone: Zone 2 at four spots we looked up in and around Hawaiian Beaches on the USGS lava zone layer the State publishes. One point we checked a little to the northwest came back Zone 3, so look up your own parcel.
Ailaau Lava Under Hawaiian Beaches
Much of Hawaiian Beaches sits on the Ailaau flows, pahoehoe that erupted from Kilauea’s summit beginning in the early 1400s, according to USGS. That flow field covered about 166 square miles of Puna and carried most of its lava through tubes.
For a septic job, that usually means a thin layer of organic soil over fractured pahoehoe. Fractured lava can’t take effluent directly, so the rule there is a soil replacement system: the leach field area is excavated and refilled, giving 3 feet or more of treatment depth above the water table. Your engineer’s perc test and 5-foot test pit tell us how deep the rock work goes.
The coast changes the math in two ways:
- Shoreline setback. Any part of the system has to stay at least 50 feet from the certified shoreline under HAR 11-62. On an oceanfront lot, that alone can decide where the tank and disposal area go.
- Groundwater separation. Lower ground near the ocean can mean less distance between the bottom of the disposal area and groundwater. Your engineer measures this. If there isn’t enough separation for a conventional design, the options include more fill, a different layout, or an aerobic treatment unit that cleans the effluent more before it’s dispersed. The engineer makes that call based on the site, and DOH reviews it. An ATU isn’t automatically required just because you live near the water.
Statewide, the usual range for a conversion is $20,000 to $50,000, and a near-shore lot on lava sits toward the top of it. See our conversion cost guide for where the money goes.
Hawaiian Shores: Check What You’re Connected To First
This is the part of the page that only applies to Hawaiian Shores. The Hawaiian Shores Community Association runs the neighborhood’s drinking water system, and federal and state money has gone into it more than once:
- In 2014 the association received about $1.9 million in USDA loans and grants. Its president said the 85,000 gallon holding tank was over 40 years old and failing.
- In 2017 a U.S. Senate press release announced nearly $3 million more in USDA funding. That release described the association as providing potable water and waste water services to about 445 homes.
- DOH’s drinking water program funded replacement of 40 fire hydrants that were more than 50 years old.
We could not confirm from any other source what that “waste water service” covers, or which homes it reaches. So before you plan a conversion in Hawaiian Shores, ask the association whether your home connects to any shared wastewater system. If it does, your project may look very different from a standard cesspool conversion. If it doesn’t, you’re in the same position as the rest of Puna.
Two Hawaiian Shores lot listings we read described paved roads, private water and lots of about 12,000 square feet. A lot that size clears the HAR 11-62 minimum of 10,000 square feet per system, and a lot recorded before August 30, 1991 wouldn’t be held to the minimum anyway.
The Back Road Out of Kapoho
Hawaiian Beaches played a part in the 2018 eruption. When fissure 8 lava cut Highway 132 at the end of May, the only way out of Kapoho was Government Beach Road north to Hawaiian Beaches, according to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
For us, getting in from the Keaau side is straightforward on Highway 130. Inside the subdivisions, we check the road surface, the slope of your driveway and where a tank truck can turn around before the job is scheduled.
What Owners Here Usually Need
- Older homes on cesspools. Frequent pumping (over two times in a year), repeated spills, or a remodel permit that adds a bedroom can each give DOH grounds to order an upgrade. For that purpose, 70 square feet is enough to make a room a bedroom.
- Vacant lot construction. A new home can’t use a cesspool (the statewide ban dates to 2016), and on this island the building permit waits on DOH’s review of your septic design.
- Buying or selling. A sale doesn’t trigger conversion under state law, but buyers often ask. Our guide to buying or selling with a cesspool covers what to expect.
Sewer, Deadlines and Funding
Hawaiian Beaches appeared on the County’s 2022 list of ten Puna communities that might someday get some form of wastewater treatment. In the same process the County said it runs no wastewater service in the Puna study area today. The EIS was finalized and accepted in fall 2023 with no option picked in the acceptance letter. Ask the Department of Environmental Management about your street before you design.
Under state law, December 31, 2049 is the last day a cesspool can stay in service. For funding, the USDA Section 504 program (Hilo office) lends very-low-income households as much as $40,000 at 1 percent, and can add a grant of as much as $10,000 for owners 62 or older; check eligibility. Hawaii’s Act 204 loan fund is slated to begin taking applications late in 2026. Our funding guide has the details.
Up and Down the Coast
We also work in Nanawale Estates, Pahoa, Hawaiian Paradise Park and Ainaloa. See our Puna septic services page for the rest of the district.
Get an Estimate
Tell us which subdivision you’re in, how close you are to the water and what your cesspool has been doing. We’ll come look and tell you what the job takes. Request a free estimate
Frequently Asked Questions
I live in Hawaiian Shores. Is my home already on a shared wastewater system?
Possibly. A 2017 federal press release said the association provides waste water services to about 445 homes. Ask the Hawaiian Shores Community Association whether your lot is connected before you plan anything.
How close to the ocean can a septic system go in Hawaiian Beaches?
The rule is 50 feet minimum, measured to the certified shoreline. For an oceanfront parcel, that one line often sets the whole layout.
Do coastal lots here need an aerobic treatment unit?
Not automatically. Your engineer measures the separation to groundwater and designs from that. An ATU is one option when separation is tight. ATUs need a service contract with inspections every six months.
Is Hawaiian Beaches getting sewer?
It was named in the County’s Puna wastewater study, but no system has been built. Check with DEM for the latest on your street.
What lava zone is Hawaiian Beaches in?
The points we checked on the USGS hazard map came back Zone 2. One point a little to the northwest came back Zone 3, so look up your exact parcel.