HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	258
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the commission on water resource management to establish instream flow standards for all streams in the hana district.

     WHEREAS, Article XI, section 7, provides in part that the "State has an obligation to protect, conserve, and control and regulate the use of Hawaii's water resources for the benefit of its people" including the protection of "ground water and surface water resources, watersheds and natural stream environments..."; and

     WHEREAS, section 174C-71, Hawaii Revised Statutes, mandates the Commission on Water Resources Management to "[E]stablish instream flow standards on a stream-by-stream basis..." if it determines that the public interest requires an instream flow standard for a particular stream; and

     WHEREAS, an instream flow standard "shall be expressed in terms of variable flows of water necessary to protect adequately fishery, wildlife, recreational, aesthetic, scenic, or other beneficial instream uses in the stream..."; and

     WHEREAS, the Commission on Water Resources Management has not considered instream flow standards for any streams in the Hana District, including Kahikinui, Kaupo, Kipahulu, Hana, and Koolau; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Commission on Water Resources Management is requested to determine whether the public interest requires the adoption of an instream flow standard for any streams within the Hana District; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any instream flow standards adopted be expressed in terms of the variable flows of stated volumes of water, from time to time, for the protection of:

     (1)  Downstream fisheries, wildlife, and instream biota;

     (2)  Traditional and customary native Hawaiian agricultural, cultural, and religious practices; and

     (3)  Recreational, aesthetic, and scenic values; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Commission on Water Resources Management, the Director of Health, the Aquatic Biologist of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii Cooperative Fishery Unit, the Director of the Pacific Islands Regional Office of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Mayor of Maui County.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Commission on Water Resources Management; Instream Flow Standards