HR 33: encouraging Hawaiʻi county, in collaboration with the Puakō community, Department of Health, and other stakeholders, to complete the Puakō Sewage Project.

HOUSE RESOLUTION

encouraging Hawaiʻi county, in collaboration with the Puakō community, Department of Health, and other stakeholders, to complete the Puakō Sewage Project.

     WHEREAS, the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, describes a coral polyp as the origin of life in Hawaiʻi through the verse, "Hanau ka ʻUku-koʻakoʻa, hanau kana, he ʻAkoʻakoʻa, puka"; and

     WHEREAS, coral is vital to Hawaiʻi, sustaining Native Hawaiian fisheries, protecting shorelines from storm surge, supporting the tourism economy, and providing enjoyment for families; and

     WHEREAS, the State has approximately eighty thousand cesspools dumping fifty-three million gallons of untreated sewage into the environment each year; and

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the Department of Health identified fourteen priority areas where cesspool upgrades are critically needed to protect public health and the environment, including Puakō; and

     WHEREAS, these cesspools must be upgraded or converted to Director of Health-approved wastewater systems or connected to sewerage systems by 2050; however, the projected total cost of doing so is more than $1,500,000,000, and there are no ongoing financial support programs available to assist homeowners with upgrade, conversion, or connection; and

     WHEREAS, wastewater pollution is contributing to the degradation of Hawaiʻi's ocean resources, including at Puakō Reef, where live coral cover has declined from seventy percent to seven percent, approaching the estimated five percent threshold below which reef systems may be unable to recover; and

     WHEREAS, the County of Hawaiʻi has signed a memorandum of understanding with Puakō for Reefs, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and revitalization of the Puakō Reef, committing to work on the issue together and establishing monthly meetings with the mayor; and

     WHEREAS, within the census-designated place of Puakō, the State owns more than fifty percent of the land area, including Wailea State Park, Puakō boat ramp, the Paniau Beach access area, the planned University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Puakō Marine Center, and six vacant residential parcels, all of which require cesspool upgrade or conversion; and

     WHEREAS, sewers are typically built by developers in new subdivisions or by counties during planned expansions; however, there is no roadmap, model, or identified funding support for communities like Puakō that need to address existing cesspool and wastewater issues; and

     WHEREAS, approximately thirty-five thousand households in Hawaiʻi lack reliable access to high-speed Internet, defined by the emerging federal standard of one hundred megabits per second download and twenty megabits per second upload; and

     WHEREAS, lack of reliable internet access is particularly prominent in rural coastal communities, agricultural areas, Native Hawaiian homestead lands, and remote subdivisions, all of which are heavily dependent on cesspools; and

     WHEREAS, Puakō community volunteers have worked over the last thirteen years to create a fully designed solution, build community support, and raise $2,500,000 in community donations, all without using a single dollar of government funding; and

     WHEREAS, the proposed Puakō solution is a generational investment, not a short-term fix, which includes installation of advanced wastewater collection technology integrated with fiber-optic infrastructure to support a low-pressure system that enables remote monitoring to reduce long-term operational costs while expanding high-speed internet access for community residents; and

     WHEREAS, recognizing that Hawaiʻi's cesspool crisis is too large for any single entity to address alone, the Puakō Sewage Project leverages collaboration among public, private, philanthropic, and community partners, using the World Economic Forum's 4P investment model for social impact projects, to reduce the burden on any single entity and to create a replicable model that can be used in communities throughout Hawaiʻi; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that Hawaiʻi County, in collaboration with the Puakō community, Department of Health, and other stakeholders, is encouraged to complete the Puakō Sewage Project to:

     (1)  Protect and restore Puakō Reef;

     (2)  Establish a replicable model demonstrating effective financing strategies, governance structures, technology performance, public-private partnerships, and cost efficiencies to accelerate cesspool conversion in similar coastal communities statewide; and

     (3)  Help close the digital divide in rural communities in Hawaiʻi with the simultaneous installation of broadband infrastructure; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Mayor of the County of Hawaiʻi, and President of Puakō for Reefs.

Report Title: 

Puako Reef; Sewage Project; County of Hawaiʻi