Surfrider Hawaii Helps Pass 4th Cesspool Bill!

Hawaii has more than 88,000 cesspools in the state, and it's estimated that more than 53 million gallons of partially treated sewage leach out of these cesspools across the state every day.  In the last five years, Surfrider's Hawaii Chapters have worked with a coalition of groups to pass three laws to ban and mandate the conversion of these cesspools.  In 2018, we were invited to the signing of Act 132, which created the Cesspool Conversion Working Group (CCWG).  Originally, the Working Group was scheduled to meet and produce a final report in only two years.  But in the face of such a large-scale problem, the group members realized that we would need more time and funding.  So this year, we lobbied and fought for House Bill 551 to do just that.  Given the important work of the CCWG, the legislature passed HB551, and Governor Ige signed it into law (Act 170) on July 3rd.  Now, the CCWG has till 2022 to finish its work and produce its final report on the best ways to convert all of Hawaii's cesspools by the year 2050.