The search for a new Oahu landfill site, an issue that has roiled city leadership for years, is still unsettled, and lawmaking underway at the Legislature should be aimed at finding a path to a solution.

So far, a collection of bills at the state Capitol is not close to achieving that goal. Legislation seems more aligned with the Honolulu City Council’s adamant opposition to placement of a landfill above an aquifer, a noncontroversial and politically safe move. Given the recent history of threats to water supply — the disastrous leak of fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill storage tanks leaps to mind — it’s easy to understand why.

The city is currently considering acquiring 150 acres of agricultural lands near Wahiawa, located over an aquifer. On Wednesday, the City Council is expected to weigh Resolution 3, which would reaffirm a 2003 Council policy barring siting a dump near sources of fresh groundwater. Members are not expected to reverse that position now.

However, Oahu is confronted with a reality check: Strict regulations that seek to safeguard the aquifer have made squaring that circle all but impossible. Keeping guardrails is rational, but the time has come for some reform to Act 73, the state law that put those guardrails in place. Or at the very least, open discussions for reform.

Act 73 was passed in 2020 as Senate Bill 2376, which established that “no waste or disposal facility shall be located in a conservation district except in emergency circumstances where it may be necessary to mitigate significant risks to public safety and health.” Even with such circumstances, under the law, the emergency would not be authorized for more than three years.

It would be hard to argue with that. If there is any give within Act 73, it may be within the law’s second section, which defines buffer zones that must separate a facility such as a landfill from the conservation district.

At least one of the measures introduced this session, House Bill 748, would reduce the buffer zone from one-half mile to one-quarter mile around the landfill. Lawmakers should consider that seriously, among other proposals that could reasonably improve the chances of finding an acceptable landfill site.

By contrast, the Senate seems headed in the opposite direction. Senate Bill 550 would add a restriction against siting a landfill “near or above” an aquifer, as determined by state health officials in consultation with county boards of water supply. That makes sense, but the bill also would enlarge the buffer zone set in Act 73 to a full mile away from conservation lands.

None of the bills had been scheduled for a hearing as of Monday, but whenever they do come up, lawmakers need to examine what elements of Act 73 could be relaxed and whether that would yield further possibilities for a landfill location.

In addition, legislators should seek a public appearance by military representatives to address the issue. In the past, military officials have not shown enthusiasm for making any Department of Defense property available when approached by Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration.

It is worth a reevaluation now. State Sen. Mike Gabbard rightly is insisting on more precise figures from the Navy specifically about the acreage of its Oahu land holdings, and how much of that is not over an aquifer.

Good questions. And even if state lawmakers can’t convince officials to change policy, voters need to know the reasons — particularly given the past history of Navy stewardship of natural resources.

Before the city proceeds with the purchase of the Wahiawa site, better used in active farming, it is essential that every landfill alternative site is reviewed — as well as constraints that might be reasonably eased. The public deserves no less.