FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lenie Nishihira (808-332-7381) Aqua Engineers, Inc. Completes Schofield Upgrade Hawaii—Kauai-based Aqua Engineers, Hawaii’s leading water and wastewater management company, celebrated the completion of its Schofield Barracks Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements Wednesday with a blessing, plant tours, and speeches by representatives from the US Military, banking industry, and Aqua Engineers.

The wastewater treatment plant upgrade enables the plant to provide premium recycled water—known as R-1 quality—to irrigate lawns, golf courses, parks and other sites on base, positively affecting the nearly 28,000 military personnel and their families, and civilians who work on base and nearby. Aqua Engineer’s president and CEO, Eassie Miller, praised the team effort involved in completing the upgrade, which has turned the plant into an asset and made it the largest, privately owned R-1 facility in Hawaii. “The upgrade enables the military to conserve water, decrease pollution, and contribute to sustainability goals.” In connection with the award of a $419 million, 50-year contract from the Army in 2003, Aqua Engineers acquired the wastewater treatment plant at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii’s largest Army post. Aqua Engineers recommended the new MBR (Membrane Biological Reactor) technology used in the upgrade, which has reduced the plant’s output of nitrogen and phosphates. The upgrade represents completion of the first major capital improvement phase of the contract to operate, maintain and upgrade the 4.2 million-gallon-per-day plant. Also, the project is one of the first to come under the U.S. Department of Defense’s privatization program to contract with private-sector companies to take over utility and housing operations on hundreds of military bases across the country in order to decrease costs and streamline projects. Aqua Engineers was selected over two other firms bidding for the project. To handle the project, Aqua Engineers created 16 new jobs for the local work force, hired subcontractors, and obtained financing from CoBank. The Schofield Barracks Wastewater Treatment Plant Project Team included design engineering companies: Brown and Caldwell, Wilson Okamoto Corporation, Morikawa and Associates, LLC, and Nagamine Okawa Engineers Inc. Aqua Engineer’s subsidiary company, Briant Construction, Inc. served as the project’s general contractor. Subcontractors were Harvey Brothers, LLC, IPAC Electric Co, LLC, Industrial Group, and Honolulu Industrial Coating Co, Inc. In addition, specialists GE Water & Process Technologies provided the latest technologies for membrane solutions. Aqua Engineers was founded in 1981 to meet a need for trained operators for privately-owned wastewater treatment plants on Kauai. The company now operates and maintains 30 wastewater systems and more than 100 pumping stations and eight water stations throughout Hawaii. With its subsidiary companies (Kauai Precast, LLC, which specializes in precast concrete products; A-Vac, LLC, which handles sewer and storm system maintenance; and Briant Construction, Inc., a mechanical contracting company) Aqua Engineers has nearly 100 employees specializing in engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, and management of water and wastewater systems. During the past six months, the 25-year old wastewater management company has been re-structuring for positive growth and new opportunities. In March 2006, it transitioned from a 4-person ownership organization to an employee owned company when 100% of Aqua Engineers shares were purchased by the company’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). In September 2006, Eassie Miller was named president and CEO, replacing co-founder and former president Ian Kagimoto. Kagimoto, who previously had a majority ownership of the company, continues in his role as chairman of the board. Dedicated to designing and operating efficient water and wastewater systems throughout Hawaii, Aqua Engineers www.aquaengineers.com continues to expand its services and employ the latest technology to meet community needs.