EPA sets up Hawaii water office to fix pollution problems
S. 5578 — A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish the Hawaiian Islands Program, and for other purposes. · Filed by Mazie Hirono (D-HI) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 29, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill creates a new Hawaiian Islands Program inside the EPA. The EPA will open an office in Hawaii with a director. The director brings together people from different groups. They make a plan to fix water problems. The plan covers cesspools, groundwater, and coastal wetlands. The bill gives $50 million per year from 2028 to 2032. No more than 4% goes to running the office.
Who it affects
Hawaii residents benefit from cleaner drinking water and less flooding. The program includes Native Hawaiian groups in planning. Companies that build water systems and environmental groups may be involved.
One thing to notice
The program only gets money through 2032. If funding stops after that, projects may not finish.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Sep 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Hawaiian Islands Program — A new EPA office in Hawaii to fix water pollution and protect drinking water.
- cesspools — Underground pits that hold human waste. They can leak and poison groundwater.
- coastal wetlands — Wet land near the ocean that stops flooding and erosion.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,671 characters) on Oct 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“EPA sets up Hawaii water office to fix pollution problems” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5578/simple Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.