This December 11, 2021 photo, provided by the US Navy, shows a diving rescue unit working in a contaminated well near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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This December 11, 2021 photo, provided by the US Navy, shows a diving rescue unit working in a contaminated well near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Bleu Jackson / AP
Last week NPR reported that Hawaii ordered the U.S. Navy to be decommissioned during World War II Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility after a gasoline leak was discovered contaminating Honolulu’s drinking water supply.
We have since learned that samples from the Red Hill Shaft contained 350 times higher levels of kerosene than is considered safe, and that approximately 3,000 service members and their families were moved to temporary housing.
The Navy said it found the source of the gas leak, but state officials and environmental activists is still calling for the permanent closure of the facility.
Here’s the background and the latest developments:
This is the latest in a string of fuel leaks at Red Hill
The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, built in the early 1940s, consists of 20 steel tanks mined inside a volcanic ridge near Pearl Harbor and can hold up to 250 million gallons of fuel. Whether.
Reservoirs located on an aquifer provide one-quarter of the water consumed in urban Honolulu. The site is also about a mile from the Honolulu Water Board’s Halawa Shaft, which supplies 20% of the area’s drinking water.
The facility has had two major fuel leaks this year alone and in October received a $325,000 state fine for violation of maintenance and operation. Many residents, officials and environmental advocates have long viewed the leaked facility as an “inevitable public health and environmental disaster,” as Honolulu Civil Beat report.
The Red Hill Watershaft is one of three feeds into the water system of the Navy’s Pearl Harbor-Hickam Combined Base, which includes military housing and two elementary schools. The Navy’s water system serves approximately 93,000 residents.
The troubles start right after Thanksgiving
The State Ministry of Health first began receiving reports of “oder-like fuel or gasoline” from water system users in late November. Related press A week later it was reported that nearly 1,000 military households had complained about the tap water, and some said they experienced cramps and vomiting after drinking the water.
The Navy initially dismissed those concerns, with the joint base commander initially telling the families that the water was safe to drink (he has since apologized). Health officials said on November 30 that they would investigate the complaints and urged those at the facility to avoid drinking, cooking with it, or using it for oral hygiene.
Within days, the health ministry said preliminary analysis detected petroleum products in water samples from one of the reported odor sites, and the Navy separately said it was detected petroleum products in Red Hill.
Medical staff said on December 10 that additional samples from the Red Hill shaft contained “total organics in the petroleum-diesel hydrocarbon range” 350 times the level considered safe for drinking water. They also tested positive for “organic matter in the gasoline range” at more than 66 times the safe level.
A tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is pictured on January 26, 2018. The facility was built in the early 1940s and has a history of leaks.
US Navy via AP
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A tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is pictured on January 26, 2018. The facility was built in the early 1940s and has a history of leaks.
US Navy via AP
Navy protests Hawaii’s cease-and-desist order
On December 7, the Hawaii Department of Health ordered the Navy to suspend operations at the facility and move towards defatting in its underground storage tanks, as well as taking immediate steps to install a drinking water treatment system at Red Hill Shaft and submitting a work plan for evaluation system integrity.
The Navy has informed state officials that it will order check, although it has halted operations at the complex – which fuels US military ships and planes patrolling the Pacific – since November 27.
On December 8, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said he was directing pause of all operations at the Red Hill Underground Storage Tank until the investigation into the source of the petroleum leak is completed (but does not refer to tank degassing, as directed).
He also said the Navy would “evaluate the acquisition of a drinking water treatment system and consult with a qualified independent third party to assess the operation and integrity of the system.” of this establishment.
“We are moving towards a new normal: One where this never happens again,” he said in a statement. “The Department is determined and committed to making the necessary changes. We can and will take care of our people, while preserving and protecting our national security interests in the Pacific and at home.”
Hawaiian Public Radio report on Tuesday that the branch of the Sierra Club of Hawaii filed a motion to intervene in the state’s proceedings for the emergency order. An attorney for Earthjustice, the environmental law firm that represents the group, said the move puts pressure on the health department to ensure the Navy abides by the terms of the order.
Navy officials say a jet fuel spill was the cause
Senator Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told state lawmakers on Friday that the Navy had identified the source of the water well contamination as jet fuel from a spill November 20 near the storage facility.
“So from the results of the testing and engineering analysis we did today, it seems likely that some amount of JP-5 jet fuel entered the Red Hill well in a single event, possibly was from the November 20 spill, and then pumped from there well and distributed throughout those parts of our Navy’s water distribution system,” he said, according to Stars and stripes.
Rear Admiral Dean VanderLey, the head of Naval Facility Engineering Systems Command, Pacific, outlined a timeline for the cleanup during that same meeting.
In the immediate future, he said, the Navy is working with state health officials to directly inject any petroleum that is floating on the well water.
The first step, he said, is to “flush a system-wide amount of clean water” — about 25 million gallons — through the distribution system, a process that will take a minimum of four days. The next stage involves flushing each house and each facility.
VanderLey said the goal is to complete the process and get everyone back into their homes by Christmas.
In this December 11, 2021 photo provided by the United States Navy, Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 1 performs an inspection and sampling of a water well near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Bleu Jackson / AP
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Bleu Jackson / AP
In this December 11, 2021 photo provided by the United States Navy, Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 1 performs an inspection and sampling of a water well near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Bleu Jackson / AP
The impact of the crisis is being felt on and off the premises
Meanwhile, thousands of affected facility residents have been relocated to temporary housing.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement This week, more than 3,000 people have been displaced from military housing and are living in hotels, and “thousands” have been assessed by medical staff. More information for those affected available here.
“We take this very seriously,” Austin added. “And I’m personally monitoring our progress and mitigation efforts. Indeed, Navy leadership updates me daily on the measures they are taking to care for service members.” and affected families, to restore the safety of military home water systems, and to work with local governments — particularly the Hawaii State Department of Health — on the best path forward.”
Austin said he expects military leaders in Hawaii to do all they can to get people home safely and quickly, and praises their efforts so far, including the establishment of a Pregnancy Medical Advice hotline, providing more than 150,000 gallons of drinking water and flying additional water filtration systems to the island.
He also directed Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks to visit the fuel storage facility this week and meet with local officials, residents and experts.
There are concerns that the leak could also affect residential water supplies.
State’s Water Supply Board in early December said it had closed Halawa Shaft due to contamination in the Red Hill well. A report released this week No contaminants were found in the water, but officials Still wondering about whether that could change and when it might resume.
The Hawaii congressional delegation has repeatedly asked Governor David Ige to request that President Biden declare an emergency, although he told Hawaii Public Radio last week that the situation is complicated because of the related property. state. Listen to the interview here.
This story originally appeared on the Morning version live blogs.
