HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1691
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to THE ENVIRONMENT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that protecting the State's nearshore waters is important for ecosystem resilience and public health. Clean nearshore waters, free of pollutants, help support the coral reef systems that are critical to Hawaii's fisheries. A 2023 study published in the scientific journal Nature found that coral reefs that are protected from land-based pollutants, especially wastewater pollutants, are better able to recover from ocean warming events.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to require individual wastewater systems that are near the shoreline, or likely to pollute groundwater, to include denitrification capacity.

SECTION 2. Chapter 342D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part III to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§342D- Individual wastewater systems; denitrification capacity. Each individual wastewater system shall have denitrification capacity if:

(1) The wastewater system is located fifty feet or less from a shoreline; or

(2) The wastewater system is located at or below one thousand five hundred feet below sea level and:

(A) The substrate is less than five thousand years old; and

(B) The soil has low nutrient holding capacity, low shrink and swell characteristics, and very fast water permeability, based on the Hawaii Soil Atlas."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Environment; Individual Wastewater Systems; Nearshore Waters; Denitrification Capacity; Required

Description:

Requires individual wastewater systems that are near the shoreline, or likely to pollute groundwater, to include denitrification capacity.

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