**Congress of the United States**

**House of Representatives**

**Washington, DC 20515**

**PRESS RELEASE**                                                  
      March 12, 2007

**[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]{.underline}**

Contact:    Pepi Nieva (808) 225-1219

**Congresswoman Mazie Hirono announces House passage of**

**Clean Water Bill to provide \$108 million for Hawai\`i**

**Washington, D.C. --** The U.S. House of Representatives Friday passed
a bill authorizing a total of \$14 billion to address wastewater
infrastructure needs nationwide. Hawai\`i would receive \$108 million of
these funds from 2008 through 2011, approximately \$75 million higher
than would be received under current funding levels.

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 720, the
Water Quality Financing Act, which reauthorizes the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund used to build and improve wastewater treatment
facilities. She sits on Water Resources and Environment subcommittee and
the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which passed
the bill.

Congresswoman Hirono also offered a floor amendment to the bill, which
passed unanimously, to allow funds under the bill to be used to develop
Integrated Water Resource Plans that will help communities coordinate
management and protection of surface water, ground water, and storm
water resources. "The watershed model of natural resource management is
a modern equivalent of the Hawaiian *ahupua'a* system," Hirono said in
her floor remarks (attached). "Ancient Hawaiians understood that what
happened on the mountain would affect resources at lower elevations, in
coastal areas, and even in the ocean. It is important that we move to a
more holistic way of looking at how our water systems interact."

Congresswoman Hirono also opposed an amendment that would have removed
the requirement to pay prevailing wages (Davis-Bacon requirements) on
projects funded under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

---more---

*Page 2: \$108 million in Clean Water Funds for Hawai\`i*

"Retaining the requirement that workers be paid the local prevailing
wage will help ensure that these projects yield the greatest benefit to
the communities they are meant to help," said Hirono. "Davis-Bacon not
only guarantees that workers receive a fair wage; it helps ensure the
quality of the work because it removes the incentive for hiring less
qualified workers for a job. Paying prevailing wages also means that
businesses and workers in the community where the work is taking place
have a fair shot at getting the job and are less likely to be undercut
by contractors who bid lower, but then cut corners. A well-built project
at a fair price should be our goal---not the cheapest possible job where
workers' qualifications and quality of work may be compromised."

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is a top priority of the
Democratic-led 110^th^ Congress because it ensures clean water and
fosters economic development in local communities by helping pay for
building and improving wastewater treatment facilities. This fund had
been slashed by the last Congress.

Congress also passed two bills earlier in the week that will help
Hawai\`i and our nation cope with our aging sewer systems and improve
water quality. Congresswoman Hirono supported these bills (H.R. 569 and
H.R. 700) in her Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and voted
for them on the House floor.

-   **[H.R. 569, The Water Quality Investment Act.]{.underline}** There
    is an increasing problem in many local communities across the
    country where, after heavy rainfall, sewer systems overflow due to
    aging sewer systems. H.R. 569 authorizes \$1.8 billion in grants to
    local communities over the next five years to construct treatment
    works to deal with sewer overflows. This bill is crucial because
    sewer overflows represent a major public health hazard. It will aid
    cities and states that find building or improving sewer
    infrastructure financially impossible without help from the federal
    government.

-   **[H.R. 700, the Healthy Communities Water Supply
    Act.]{.underline}** H.R. 700 authorizes \$125 million for pilot
    projects to increase an area's usable water supply---by encouraging
    innovation in water reclamation, reuse, and conservation. The bill
    will provide funding for new technologies, including ideas like
    aquifer storage and retrieval and membrane filtering technologies
    that have the potential to greatly increase our ability to use water
    more effectively and efficiently.

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