Bill Text: HI SR197 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Resolution 197

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting That The Agribusiness Development Corporation Conduct A Study On The Feasibility Of Developing Desalination Plants In West And South Maui That Are Co-located With Hydrological Power Plants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-14 - Referred to EET. [SR197 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SR197-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	197
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

Requesting that the Agribusiness Development Corporation conduct a study on the feasibility of developing desalination plants in West and south maui that are co-located with hydrological power plants.

WHEREAS, a desalination plant is a facility that removes salts and other minerals from seawater to make the water drinkable and suitable for irrigation; and

WHEREAS, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, hydrological power is "energy that is generated by dams, which use water to turn turbines and generate electricity"; and

WHEREAS, a desalination plant can be combined with a hydrological power plant, specifically a hydroelectric power plant, through a method called co-location, in which the desalination plant intake and discharge facilities are connected to the discharge outfall of an adjacent hydroelectric power plant; and

WHEREAS, co-locating a desalination plant with a hydrological power plant allows the hydrological power plant's cooling water to be used as a source of water for the desalination plant; and

WHEREAS, sharing a desalination plant and hydrological power plant's discharge and intake facilities in dry areas, such as West and South Maui, could help to lower the cost of desalination and power generation while increasing the area's supply of drinking and irrigation water; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Agribusiness Development Corporation is requested to conduct a study on the feasibility of developing desalination plants in West and South Maui that are co-located with hydrological power plants; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Agribusiness Development Corporation is also requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2026; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Agribusiness Development Corporation.