We need  your help!  The legislature is seriously considering two bills that would drastically reduce our water quality standards.  Without studying the impacts on marine life or residents in Hawai`i, these bills adopt less-strict federal standards that would lower our water quality standards in many cases in half.  Pesticide levels would be allowed to increase by two to three times over the current limit.  These bills would also arbitrarily set coastal waters five hundred meters from shore as “infrequent use coastal recreation waters,” even further lowering the water quality standards for a number of recreational uses.

Click here to submit testimony.  Sample talking points:

1. •Hawai`i deliberately set high water quality standards based on our greater, year-round use of our oceans and streams. 
   

1. •What works for the east coast of the mainland may not work here.  People in Hawai`i eat up to three times more fish than people on the mainland.  We also use our waters for recreation year-round.  Why should we adopt “minimal” EPA standards that don’t consider Hawai`i’s unique beaches and streams?
   

1. •Toxicology is a complex, highly technical area.  Water standards should not be changed willy-nilly without scientific review and public input for each beach and stream in Hawai`i.
   

1. •Surfers, kayakers, paddlers, fishermen, snorkelers, and divers frequently use water more than five hundred meters away from the shoreline for recreational use.
   

Also please send a copy of your testimony to your legislator.  Find their e-mail address and contact info here for your representative and here for your senator.  Tell them that you’re a concerned constituent.