The state Health Department yesterday cited the city for putting 2,990 cubic yards of concrete waste in Ma'ili'ili Stream earlier this year.

The citation comes on the heels of similar actions by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said state and city are in negotiations over how much the city will be fined.

The city Department of Facility Maintenance has acknowledged that its employees placed an estimated 255 truckloads of concrete waste in the Ma'ili streambed without proper permits between February 2008 and May 2009.

City officials have maintained, however, that the debris was placed to shore up the banks and create a temporary access path to assist workers clearing debris upstream.

The Health Department notice said the actions violated state water pollution regulations, and that "the discharge of the concrete waste to Ma'ili'ili Stream disturbed wetland habitat and endangered species." The area is a habitat of the endangered Hawaiian stilt, a shorebird.

The order also calls for a remediation plan to be prepared by the city's Division of Road Maintenance within 30 days that would remove the discharged material and restore the area to its natural state.

City officials have said they began removing the material this summer but were advised to await further guidance. The city also is conducting its own investigation into the matter.

City Facility Maintenance Director Jeoffrey Cudiamat said in an e-mail: "The city is working with its consultant on its remediation plan for Ma'ili'ili Stream. Once it is completed, the city will submit it to the appropriate agencies for approval. When approved, the city will begin the removal of the concrete fill."

The concrete waste placed in the stream consisted largely of discarded sidewalk paving material that had been stockpiled at the city's Halawa base yard, according to an investigation report filed by the state Health Department's Clean Water Branch.

The investigation report included interviews with key department officials, several of whom provided contradictory statements about when the fill was placed in the stream as well as other facts, according to the report.

Separately, the Health Department cited the Chevron Hawai'i Refinery for discharging red effluent of unknown composition from the Kapolei facility's foul-water treatment plant into the ocean in April. A penalty of $43,500 was assessed.