HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	130
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

REQUESTING a legislative BRIEFing on the counties' wastewater PROBLEMS AND ISSUES.

     WHEREAS, the counties are responsible for constructing, operating, and maintaining the public wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal systems under the oversight and regulation of the Department of Health and the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and

     WHEREAS, much of the counties' wastewater systems are antiquated; and

     WHEREAS, for example, twenty per cent of the 1,478 miles of wastewater mains operated by the City and County of Honolulu are at least fifty years old; and

     WHEREAS, the extreme age of the wastewater systems has required the counties to expend substantial funds on the replacement, renovation, and repair of such systems; and

     WHEREAS, these activities are necessary to prevent system failures, such as the line rupture in Waikiki during the March 2006 storm that caused the release of forty-eight million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal; and

     WHEREAS, in addition to remedying the aged wastewater line, the counties are confronting other wastewater-related issues that require the expenditure of substantial public funds; and

     WHEREAS, these issues include upgrading treatment levels to secondary or greater, expanding the counties' collection system to new residential subdivisions, connecting existing un-sewered areas to the counties' system, regulating individual and private wastewater systems, recycling treated effluent, and diverting sewage sludge from landfills by bioconversion into usable products; and

     WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives has recognized the problems facing local governments across the nation, having recently acted upon legislation to provide federal grants for local wastewater projects; and

     WHEREAS, the State currently makes low-interest loans available to the counties for wastewater projects; and

     WHEREAS, to increase awareness of the counties' wastewater problems and issues, the counties, the Department of Health, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency should be allowed the opportunity to make comprehensive presentations before the Legislature; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection and House Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources, and Hawaiian Affairs are jointly requested to schedule a briefing on the counties' wastewater problems and issues; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committees are requested to invite the county administrations and councils, the Department of Health, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 to make presentations at the briefing; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committees are also urged to invite other interested persons to make presentations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection and House Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources, and Hawaiian Affairs, each county Mayor and Council Chairperson, the Director of Health, and the Regional Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Counties' Wastewater Problems and Issues; Legislative Briefing