At first glance, House Bill 834 seems harmless enough. Positive, even. The text of the bill seeks to align Hawaii water quality standards with federal ones. It’s the kind of administrative rule-changing that happens every legislative session, driven by the need for research and technical data to be brought up to date. And predictably, this bill, and its sister effort, Senate Bill 1008, have received next to no attention from the press or the public.

It turns out, however, that federal water quality standards in the United States are dramatically weaker than our own in most significant areas. In fact, Hawaii has some of the toughest regulations for near-shore waters of any state, which isn’t surprising in a state with a population that more or less lives in the ocean.

Using federal water quality regulations may sound good on paper, but in almost every meaningful case, observers say, they are weaker than those currently in place. While the proposals do offer some regulations of pollutants that now lack oversight, the net effect of these bills, according to environmentalists and scientists, would be a five-fold increase in the amount of key toxins allowed in near-shore waters.

What gives? A stealth push to free the hands of pollutant-happy golf course developers?

As is so often the case, it turns out that nothing about HB834 is what it seems. The bills, which were sponsored by House Speaker Calvin Say at the request of the City, are part of an attempt to provide the City and County of Honolulu with some breathing room following the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to end a waiver it granted to the City and begin imposing fines until Honolulu converts to what is known as secondary wastewater treatment.

In January, the EPA concluded that effluence from Honolulu’s two main sewage treatment facilities, at Honouliuli and Sand Island, was too high in bacteria and violated the Clean Water Act. As a result, the agency ordered the City to change the way it treats wastewater. Honolulu is currently one of that last major municipalities in the country that does not employ secondary treatment, which involves the introduction of microorganisms to break down already-treated sewage. The City estimates that the conversion would cost upwards of $1 billion.

Enter the two bills now gliding through the legislature. Though City officials did not return repeated calls for comment, Capitol observers say the bills, by increasing the allowable amount of bacteria in sewage plant effluence, would allow the City to return to the EPA and, without having changed its treatment process in any way, nevertheless argue that it is coming much closer to meeting state standards. According to the Clean Water Act, local and state governments are held to both federal minimums and to state standards—by lowering the state’s bar for bacteria, the City could effectively clean up its act without cleaning up its sewage at Honouliuli and Sand Island.

According to some scientists and environmental professionals, however, the proposal to permanently adjust standards for all Hawaiian waters is something like opening a Pandora’s Box while standing on a slippery slope.

Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter director Robert Harris is concerned that what should be a scientific process driven by the Department of Health has become a political one. “There is political pressure on the Legislature to move these bills because they don’t want to be blamed for increased sewer fees in Honolulu…but legislators are not toxicologists. We need more testing.”

Hawaii regulates enterococcus, a key indicator bacteria, up to 300 meters away from the shore line at 7 clumps per milliliter. The new limit would be 35 clumps per milliliter, measured 500 meters from shore. “That isn’t that alarming, necessarily,” said Harris. “What is alarming is that everything beyond 500 meters will be classified as ‘infrequently used coastal waters.’ It allows them to assess everything beyond that point at the lowest pollution standards.”

“For the Legislature to make a finding that waters beyond 500 meters are infrequently used is just blatantly false,” Harris said. “Look at Kailua, there are windsurfers farther out. We have lots of people using the waters beyond 500 meters. On the east side, we have surf breaks farther out than that.”

William Aila, harbormaster at Waianae, says “This is all about the outfall from the sewage plants,” both of which are located roughly 2,700 meters from the shore. “This is a sad case of reducing the safety bar so as not to spend money. What kinds of things happen beyond 500 meters? Just think about it: Windsurfing, kayaking, paddling, skin diving, scuba diving, fishing.”

Bob Richmond, professor of marine biology and principal investigator at the University of Hawaii’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory, says the Legislature needs to slow down.

“The way it’s written, I’m very uncomfortable with,” Richmond said. “There’s no scientific basis for 500 meters other than Hononulili and Sand Island outfalls. If the Legislature feels this is the overriding issue to address those two areas right now, then just include those two sites, and donʻt allow a five-fold increase in bacteria allowability statewide.”

No one suggests that the City will produce higher levels of bacteria if the standards are changed. The problem, observers say, is the precedent. Harris worries about “every polluter in Hawaii approaching the Legislature and cherry-picking pollutants.” Standards for fertilizers and other toxins would also be loosened by the bills.

Richmond says the bigger worry lies in removing the pressure brought by the EPA to address the issues that lay ahead. “We’re getting into an area that causes me to be very concerned about where we’re going now and for the future. It’s really opening a Pandora’s Box…it’s almost as though people believe you can will pollution to disappear by changing the law.”

“Federal standards were established primarily for contintental landmasses quite different from Hawaii,” says Richmond. “They don’t have coral reefs, marine economies, they don’t place the same cultural importance on the ocean, which is part of the the fabric of culture, economy and society in Hawaii. When you don’t take adequate care of it, bad things can happen.”

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