THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

44

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO prohibit the siting of future landfills over aquifers.

 

WHEREAS, the siting of new landfills has presented a challenge to the counties and the State because current landfills, particularly the landfill on Oahu's Leeward Coast, are reaching capacity; and

WHEREAS, there are few feasible sites available for landfills; and

WHEREAS, concerns were raised in 2002 when a private landfill was proposed in Kunia which would have been placed above a ground-water aquifer to provide drinking water to many Oahu residents; and

WHEREAS, in 2003 the Honolulu City Council adopted a resolution establishing, among other things, a policy that municipal solid waste landfills should not be located over any of the City's drinking water sources; and

WHEREAS, during the 2003 session the Legislature expressed its concern for the siting of landfills, and solid waste management in general, through the passage of Senate Resolution 153, which authorized the Auditor to investigate, among other things, the health impacts of siting landfills above public underground drinking sources; and

WHEREAS, the resulting Auditor's Report No. 04-01 noted that while several provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act are aimed at protecting sources of drinking water from contamination, the Act does not restrict the siting of landfills; and

WHEREAS, despite advances in landfill technology, there is no current technology that can guarantee that hazardous or other harmful substances from a solid waste landfill placed over an aquifer will not, over the long term, enter drinking water sources and pose a risk to the public health and welfare; and

WHEREAS, the demonstrated need for new landfills in the immediate future should not compel government to make rash decisions to site landfills where they may endanger the drinking water supply; and

WHEREAS, the prevention of contamination of drinking water through the prohibition of siting solid waste landfills over aquifers is far preferable to remediation of contaminated drinking water; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Department of Health is requested to prohibit the siting of future landfills over aquifers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and the Mayor and Council Chair of each county.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Landfills; Prohibition Against Siting Above an Aquifer