A project to develop a wastewater treatment master plan for the North Shore, which has only cesspools and septic systems to treat sewage, sits in limbo after running out of money in March.

For more than 20 years the city has made attempts to resolve this situation and every time there's a heavy rain like the one earlier this month, failed cesspools overflow along the beaches.

The city formed a partership with the state in 2007 and began developing a master plan, involving community and hiring a consultant known for developing alternative wastewater systems, something North Shore residents have supported for years.

"I'm sure there were lots of cesspools that overran (during the Dec. 11 rains)," said Kathleen Pahinui, a member of the community group that is working on the plan. "And it doesn't have to be 14 inches of rain. We have this problem when we have 5 inches of rain. It's a huge problem for us and we're disappointed that we haven't been able to move forward."

The city provided $225,000 for the project and the state was to kick in $250,000. But the state money was never released and the city is now hoping to tap into a miscellaneous fund to finish the project, said Markus Owens, spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Services, which is overseeing the planning.

"It was supposed to be a city-state agreement," Owens said. "The agreement went before the governor for her signature and she didn't sign by the June 20, 2008, deadline so the money was lapsed."

Georgina Kawamura, the state budget director, said after reviewing the request she recommended against releasing the money.

"In light of everything we could foresee as far as our revenue projection and expenditure we made the recommendation and the governor concurred," Kawamura said.

Bob Leinau, a member of the community planning group, said the process was moving along with good input and positive responses. Participants were discussing using several types of systems that would be suitable for different locations such as for hillside homes in Pupukea and farm sites in Waialua, Leinau said.

He said he was not disappointed that the process had stopped because two "onerous" aspects had not been addressed. One was the cost to residents for sewer hookup and the other was funding.

Leinau wondered how committed the city was to building systems for the North Shore.

"They make plans and they don't do them," he said. "(Former Mayor Jeremy) Harris had a whole bunch of plans and (Mayor) Mufi (Hannemann) killed a bunch of plans. I think they get into the planning process because it feels good, sounds good and gets voters off their backs. They have to say 'yes' a few times then they don't do it."

The city and the community have discussed this issue before and came up with several proposals, including a centralized plant, a wetland system and small plants in each community. For this new phase of planning, residents have already said they do not want a centralized plant or an ocean outfall, Owens said.

The planning is for all the communities within the North Shore Neighborhood Board boundaries — from Crawford Home to Mokule'ia and Waialua.

"What that leaves us with is probably an injection well into the ground ... or we can look at a recycling plant that recycles water," Owens said.