Hawaii’s Stormwater Challenges: Perspective from the Mainland
States, cities, and municipalities across the US have made great strides in meeting Clean Water Act requirements to control both point source and non-point source pollutant loads to public waters. Honolulu has, unfortunately, failed to keep up with other municipalities and the State DOH appear unable to enforce strict NPDES permit requirements upon the City. The national TMDL program was designed to help states assess, address, and control pollutant loads in specific watersheds. The results of TMDL studies assist land managers in controlling non-point source pollutants and assist state regulators in setting strict pollutant load reduction requirements to point source polluters through the NPDES permit program. Hawaii has produced fewer TMDL studies than any other state. This power point presentation looks at how other cities have successfully addressed their responsibilities to reduce pollutant loads from storm water sewers to public waters.