Cesspool to Septic Conversion in Hilo, HI

Cesspool Conversion in Hilo

Hawaii has set a deadline for every cesspool in the state to be converted or closed, and nowhere does that land harder than East Hawaii, where whole subdivisions were built on cesspools drilled into the lava. A conversion means closing the pit and installing a permitted individual wastewater system in its place: typically a septic tank with a leach field or seepage bed, or an aerobic treatment unit where the lot is too small or too wet for a conventional field. We handle cesspool-to-septic conversions across Hilo, Puna and the Hamakua coast, from the site evaluation and the design that the Department of Health requires through the excavation, the tank and field installation, and the final inspection. Lava changes everything about this work. There is little or no soil, so most fields here are built on imported fill, and a lot that looks flat and easy may sit on a lava tube or on pahoehoe that will not break without a hammer. We look at your lot first, tell you which system actually fits it, and give you a real number before anything is dug.

Cesspool and septic service in Hilo

Hilo is the county seat and the working heart of East Hawaii, wrapped around Hilo Bay between the Wailuku River and Keaukaha, with the whole Puna and Hamakua service area fanning out from its highways. Downtown, the Bayfront and the older grid around Waiakea are on county sewer, but step uphill into Kaumana, Ainako and the upper Waiakea Uka subdivisions, or out along the Puna side past Panaewa, and most homes are on a cesspool or a septic system of their own. Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the country, and that is the story of wastewater here: the ground is already full for weeks at a time, so a cesspool that drains fine in a dry stretch backs up after three days of rain, and a septic field on the Kaumana slope has to be built to shed water it did not ask for. Add the plantation-era houses with cesspools nobody has opened in decades, the student rentals near the university, the vacation rentals that fill up for Merrie Monarch week, and the steady run of home sales that each want a pump-out and an inspection, and there is plenty to do. We are based here and we work every part of town, from the bay up to the 2,000-foot line. Tell us the street and what the system is doing and you will get a straight answer and a real price.

• Site evaluation and system recommendation for your lot and household
• Design and Department of Health permit handled for you
• Septic tank with leach field or seepage bed, or an aerobic treatment unit where needed
• Raised beds on imported fill for lots with no native soil
• Old cesspool pumped, closed and filled to code
• Final inspection and the paperwork a buyer or lender asks for

Need cesspool conversion elsewhere? See all of our Hilo services or cesspool conversion across East Hawaii.