Description

The GCA Environment Committee invites you to attend the presentation from the DOH Clean Water Branch at their Committee meeting on July 17, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. via zoom. 

Mr. Shane Sumida will focus on the following key points:

• DOH is moderating a series of 5 stakeholder workshops as part of its efforts to develop a strategy to address functional equivalent dischargers in the State of Hawaii. This strategy is intended to implement the 2020 US Supreme Court decision in the case County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund which requires a NPDES permit if the addition of pollutants through groundwater is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge into Water of the United States. There could be over 100,000 facilities in Hawaii impacted. Workshop 1 was held on May 21, 2024 where we discussed background information, strategy goals, and approaches for identifying facilities that may need NPDES permits. Workshop 2 was held on July 2 where we discussed water reuse, groundwater protection, and nonpoint source pollution control which may be included in the overall strategy. Workshop 3 will be held on July 31, and we plan on discussing permitting approaches, existing permit tools, and feasibility of compliance. If you are interested in attending the next virtual workshop, please let CWB know. Slides from all workshops are on the CWB website home page. https://health.hawaii.gov/cwb/announcements/2024-fe-discharge-strategy-workshops/
• CWB is working with a contractor to develop a strategy to protect State waters that are not Waters of the United States. This is a result of the Sackett Supreme Court decision that decreased the number of waterbodies subject to CWA protection.
• CWB is working with a contractor to create the framework to improve DOH’s implementation of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for point and nonpoint source. A TMDL is like a pollution budget to bring waterbodies impaired for certain pollutants back into compliance with WQS.
• CWB has started work to improve our overall water quality management process so that it aligns with 40 CFR 130. We will provide more info to GCA Env Committee as this work progresses.
• CWB Surface Water Protection Branch Update
  
  

If you have any specific questions for the presenters, please send those questions to me and I’ll make sure to forward to the presenters.