Bill Text: HI HCR103 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Health To Complete The Required Assessment And Total Maximum Daily Load Process For Kaelepulu Watershed To Restore And Protect The Kailua Waterways.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-28 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, C. Lee excused (2). [HCR103 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-HCR103-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
103 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO COMPLETE THE REQUIRED ASSESSMENT AND TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD PROCESS FOR KAELEPULU WATERSHEd TO RESTORE AND PROTECT THE KAILUA WATERWAYS.
WHEREAS, the federal Clean Water Act requires each state to report on its water quality every two years in a Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report, also known as an Integrated Report; and
WHEREAS, the Integrated Report informs the public on the status of marine and inland (streams and estuaries) water bodies, identifies areas in need of restoration, and serves as a baseline to validate the State's efforts to improve water quality; and
WHEREAS, the State must submit a list of impaired waters and include a priority ranking of impaired waters for total maximum daily load development based on the severity of pollution and uses of the waters in the Integrated Report; and
WHEREAS, impaired waters are waters that do not attain applicable water standards; and
WHEREAS, the total maximum daily load is the calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to enter a waterbody so that the waterbody will meet and continue to meet water quality standards for that particular pollutant; and
WHEREAS, the total maximum daily load process focuses on improving water quality in impaired surface waters identified in the Integrated Report, with the goal of waterbody restoration; and
WHEREAS, in 2004, the Kaelepulu Stream in Kailua, Oahu, was listed by the State as an impaired water body due to turbidity, nutrients, bacteria, and chlorophyll pollution and was designated as a high priority impaired water body by the State Department of Health; and
WHEREAS, the pollution in Kaelepulu Stream has wide reaching effects because its waters flow to Kailua Bay at Kailua Beach Park, and Kaelepulu Stream is part of the Kaelepulu Watershed, that spans approximately 3,450 acres from Olomana through Kaelepulu Pond and includes areas known as Enchanted Lake and Kawainui; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Health initiated a total maximum daily load study of the inland waters in the Kaelepulu Watershed, and contracted several other studies to be conducted toward the larger study, but the total maximum daily load process was not completed; and
WHEREAS, in 2005, a Scoping Report and Sampling and Analysis Plan were drafted for the Department of Health as part of the total maximum daily load process, but neither document was finalized; and
WHEREAS, without a finalized Scoping Report or a finalized Sampling and Analysis Plan, the total maximum daily load process cannot be completed, and in 2011, the total maximum daily load process was still incomplete; and
WHEREAS, without a completed total maximum daily load process, the State is not able to identify the link between water quality standards and the implementation of control actions designed to attain those standards; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, despite not having a completed total maximum daily load process, the Department of Health downgraded the Kaelepulu Watershed from a high total maximum daily load priority to a medium priority in the State's Integrated Report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and
WHEREAS, the downgrade in priority was made even though the State's 2016 Integrated Report reported data showing that the applicable water quality standards for Kaelepulu Watershed, Lanikai Beach, and Kailua Beach Park were not being attained; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, despite not having a completed total maximum daily load process, the Department of Health further downgraded the Kaelepulu Watershed to a low priority in the State's Integrated Report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and
WHEREAS, the public cannot determine whether the Department of Health accurately evaluated the water quality of Kaelepulu Stream in the Kaelepulu Watershed without a completed total maximum daily load process; and
WHEREAS, the public cannot determine whether the Department of Health appropriately downgraded the total maximum daily load priority for the Kaelepulu Watershed in the 2016 and 2018 Integrated Reports to the United States Environmental Protection Agency without having completed the total maximum daily load process; and
WHEREAS, the public has an interest in knowing whether the water quality of the Kaelepulu Watershed will adversely impact the native Hawaiian waterbirds that forage and nest in the wetlands of the waterbody; and
WHEREAS, the public has an interest in knowing whether the water quality of the Kaelepulu Watershed will adversely impact the waterbody's ability to act as a nursery in support of the State's nearshore fisheries; and
WHEREAS, the public has an interest in knowing whether the water quality of the Kaelepulu Watershed will adversely impact the waterbody's ability to support recreational activities in the waterbody and in the nearshore waters; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Health is urged to use the best available data to complete the total maximum daily load process for the Kaelepulu Watershed in Kailua, Oahu, by the end of 2019; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, and Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Kaelepulu Watershed; Total Maximum Daily Load; Water Quality
