Congresswoman Mazie Hirono Announces House Passage of Clean Water Bill to Provide $108 Million for Hawai'i

Press Release

Congresswoman Mazie Hirono announces House passage of Clean Water Bill to provide $108 million for Hawai`i

The U.S. House of Representatives Friday passed a bill authorizing a total of $14 billion to address wastewater infrastructure needs nationwide. Hawai`i would receive $108 million of these funds from 2008 through 2011, approximately $75 million higher than would be received under current funding levels.

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 720, the Water Quality Financing Act, which reauthorizes the Clean Water State Revolving Fund used to build and improve wastewater treatment facilities. She sits on Water Resources and Environment subcommittee and the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which passed the bill.
Congresswoman Hirono also offered a floor amendment to the bill, which passed unanimously, to allow funds under the bill to be used to develop Integrated Water Resource Plans that will help communities coordinate management and protection of surface water, ground water, and storm water resources. "The watershed model of natural resource management is a modern equivalent of the Hawaiian ahupua'a system," Hirono said in her floor remarks (attached). "Ancient Hawaiians understood that what happened on the mountain would affect resources at lower elevations, in coastal areas, and even in the ocean. It is important that we move to a more holistic way of looking at how our water systems interact."

Congresswoman Hirono also opposed an amendment that would have removed the requirement to pay prevailing wages (Davis-Bacon requirements) on projects funded under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

"Retaining the requirement that workers be paid the local prevailing wage will help ensure that these projects yield the greatest benefit to the communities they are meant to help," said Hirono. "Davis-Bacon not only guarantees that workers receive a fair wage; it helps ensure the quality of the work because it removes the incentive for hiring less qualified workers for a job. Paying prevailing wages also means that businesses and workers in the community where the work is taking place have a fair shot at getting the job and are less likely to be undercut by contractors who bid lower, but then cut corners. A well-built project at a fair price should be our goal—not the cheapest possible job where workers' qualifications and quality of work may be compromised."

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is a top priority of the Democratic-led 110th Congress because it ensures clean water and fosters economic development in local communities by helping pay for building and improving wastewater treatment facilities. This fund had been slashed by the last Congress.

Congress also passed two bills earlier in the week that will help Hawai`i and our nation cope with our aging sewer systems and improve water quality. Congresswoman Hirono supported these bills (H.R. 569 and H.R. 700) in her Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and voted for them on the House floor.

· H.R. 569, The Water Quality Investment Act. There is an increasing problem in many local communities across the country where, after heavy rainfall, sewer systems overflow due to aging sewer systems. H.R. 569 authorizes $1.8 billion in grants to local communities over the next five years to construct treatment works to deal with sewer overflows. This bill is crucial because sewer overflows represent a major public health hazard. It will aid cities and states that find building or improving sewer infrastructure financially impossible without help from the federal government.

· H.R. 700, the Healthy Communities Water Supply Act. H.R. 700 authorizes $125 million for pilot projects to increase an area's usable water supply—by encouraging innovation in water reclamation, reuse, and conservation. The bill will provide funding for new technologies, including ideas like aquifer storage and retrieval and membrane filtering technologies that have the potential to greatly increase our ability to use water more effectively and efficiently.

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