The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined the Grove Farm Company Inc. and The Gas Company more than $104,500 for operating illegal large-capacity cesspools in Lihue, Kauai.

Such cesspools were banned nationally in April 2005 as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA said, because they collect and release untreated raw sewage into the ground, where disease-causing pathogens, harmful chemicals and pharmaceuticals can contaminate groundwater, streams and the ocean.

As part of a settlement agreement, Grove Farm has agreed to pay a $58,716 penalty and to close seven large-capacity cesspools either through connections to a sewer system or by installing individual wastewater systems.

The seven large capacity cesspools to be closed in Lihue include:

>> One cesspool that serves

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