Bill Text: HI HCR97 | 2015 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Wastewater Disposal Review
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-04-24 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HCR97 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2015-HCR97-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
97 |
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TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ASSURE THAT ANY SUBSTANTIAL LAND DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER, OCCURRING BY INJECTION WELL OR OTHER MEANS, IS IN ALL CASES, ADEQUATELY REVIEWED AND PERMITTED.
WHEREAS, section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act charges the Department of Health with responsibility for certifying that proposed discharges resulting from an activity will not violate applicable water quality standards; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Health administers the underground injection control program to regulate the disposal of wastewater under chapter 11-23 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Health defines a "well" as a "bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a dug hole, whose depth is greater than its widest surface dimension"; and
WHEREAS, current wastewater treatment plant methods of wastewater disposal are not limited to underground injection wells; and
WHEREAS, in Hawaii, other methods for wastewater treatment plant disposal include seepage ponds, land discharge, seepage pits, and other means; and
WHEREAS, wastewater treatment plants using different discharge methods have resulted, in some cases, in plumes of unpermitted and unregulated wastewater discharge into the environment, for example, from the Kealakehe wastewater treatment plant; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to assure that any land discharge of domestic wastewater over 1,000 gallons per day, occurring by injection well, seepage ponds, or seepage pits is, in all cases, adequately reviewed and permitted; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to adopt rules, pursuant to Chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to include seepage ponds and seepage pits in the review and permit process, or to consider prohibiting seepage ponds and seepage pits altogether; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and the Chief of the Environmental Management Division.
Wastewater Disposal Review
