STAND. COM. REP. NO. 388
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: H.B. No. 1627
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred H.B. No. 1627 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER CONSERVATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to prohibit the use of potable water to irrigate golf courses effective January 1, 2010.
The bill would provide an exemption from the prohibition when there is no reasonably available source of nonpotable water or use of nonpotable water poses a threat to public health and safety or other surface and ground water uses. The bill would also define potable water, include recycled water in the declaration of policy for the Water Code, and include recycled water in programs for the development, conservation, protection, control, and regulation of water resources.
Your Committee received testimony in support of the intent of this measure from the Commission on Water Resource Management, the Board of Water Supply of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club. The Department of Health and the Hanalei Watershed Hui testified in opposition. Life of the Land provided comments.
Your Committee finds that almost all of the State's available potable water will have been allocated by the year 2020 and that there will be an insufficient reserve of potable water after that date. Sustainability and the State's policy to engage in comprehensive water resource planning requires development and use of sources of nonpotable water for purposes, such as golf course irrigation, that do not require the use of our precious potable water supplies. These sources include recycled water and water drawn from aquifers below the level from which potable water is drawn.
Your Committee has amended the bill by:
(1) Making the prohibition against irrigation of golf courses with potable water applicable only to new golf courses, placing the effective date of the prohibition in the substantive provisions of the bill, and making the bill effective upon approval so that the counties can begin to effectuate the purposes of the bill and so that proposed golf courses can develop sources of nonpotable water in the planning process or seek exemptions from the prohibition, where necessary;
(2) Placing the responsibility for determining whether nonpotable water will be reasonably available in the near future with the county in which the golf course is to be located, instead of the Commission on Water Resource Management;
(3) Requiring the counties to adopt ordinances to facilitate distribution and use of nonpotable water for new golf course irrigation that protect existing water resources and public health and safety;
(4) Deleting the proposed reference to recycled water in the declaration of policy in the State Water Code, section 174C-2(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, because that policy relates to natural resources such as surface and ground water;
(5) Replacing the proposed reference to "recycled water" with "nonpotable water" in section 174C-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, because "nonpotable water" more broadly refers to the resource subject to water management programs;
(6) Narrowing the definition of "nonpotable water" to exclude surface water because of the need to ensure that a prohibition against irrigation of new golf courses with potable water does not put undue pressure on surface water resources, particularly streams and rivers, that might be the source of first resort for nonpotable water; and
(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1627, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1627, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,
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____________________________ EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair |
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