A fuel line is connected to a merchant tanker to transfer fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii, Oct. 23, 2023. (Jordan KirkJohnson/U.S. Navy)
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — A community group in Hawaii is asking the Navy to investigate an uptick in reports of water contamination in households near Pearl Harbor that were affected by a jet fuel spill in late 2021.
The Community Representative Initiative — a 10-member group established last month to liaison directly with the Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Defense Logistics Agency — also called on the Navy to begin testing “hot water tanks in housing on the water distribution line,” according to a Monday news release.
The group was established to oversee community concerns related to defueling and closing the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, as well as water safety issues arising from the site.
In 2021, jet fuel leakage from the World War II-era facility seeped into the Navy’s water distribution on and near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, contaminating tap water for thousands of residents in military communities.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in March 2022 ordered the facility permanently closed. Final defueling of 104 million gallons of fuel began earlier this month and is expected to be completed by early next year.
Some residents were sickened by the tainted water, and some remain leery of the tap water despite assurances from the Navy that the system is clean.
“Over a dozen families on the Navy water line have reported to the CRI in the last week that they have experienced a rise in symptoms that are consistent with increased water contamination and shared with the CRI documented and photographed evidence of recent ailments that included rashes, burns and illnesses,” the news release said.
A matter of ‘common sense’
Army Maj. Mandy Feindt, who lived in a home on Ford Island at the time of the water contamination and is now a member of CRI, told Stars and Stripes via text message Tuesday that testing hot water is just a matter of “common sense.”
“Most people do not bathe in cold water, yet the Navy has only conducted cold water testing as part of their long term monitoring process,” she wrote. “The Navy refuses to test residential hot water, just as they’ve refused to replace hot water heaters. I want the Navy to stop turning a blind eye and ignoring the possibility of contamination being stored in those water heaters.”
The Navy said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the tests it conducts are done in accordance with procedures instituted and approved by the Interagency Drinking Water System Team, which includes the EPA and Hawaii Department of Health.
CRI is also asking the Navy to create “a new, written policy statement that will ban retribution or retaliation for military personnel and their spouses who report issues with their water and request water testing,” the news release states.
“In Feb 2022, I filed a DOD whistleblower violation complaint after experiencing retaliation from my own command team,” Feindt wrote in the text message. “The investigation into my complaint is still ongoing (20 months later), and there are currently no regulations in place to protect me in the process.”
Meanwhile, she said she has watched “my retaliators and the leaders responsible for the crisis be nominated for the most senior positions in the military ... promoted, awarded, or have been able to retire with their careers intact.”
The Navy said in its statement that both the service and the Department of Defense have existing policies prohibiting reprisal or retaliations against whistleblowers.
“Residents who have concerns may contact their local or command-level Inspector General’s office,” the statement said.
The Community Representative Initiative received this photo last week of an infant’s rash from a family that believes the condition was due to contaminated water in the their home that uses the Navy’s water supply near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Community Representative Initiative)
No traces of petroleum
The Hawaii Department of Health said in a news release Monday that it learned last week that 12 users of Navy water had reported symptoms attributed to exposure to tap water.
The Health Department conducted on-site inspections Thursday in five of those households but “did not observe a sheen or odor in the drinking water” in samples taken.
“A Photoionization Detector did not detect volatile organic compounds, which are indicators of petroleum byproducts,” the release said. “With the homeowners’ permission, the Navy collected water samples for further testing with DOH oversight.”
At the direction of the Department of Health, the Navy tested the well shaft for fuel contamination on Thursday, but the presence of petroleum was not detected using rapid-screening tests, according to the release.
The Navy said in its statement that it had resampled drinking water from residents who expressed concerns last week.
“Samples were collected as part of the Rapid Response Team program and the Drinking Water Long-Term Monitoring program,” the statement said. “The rapid response tests all resulted in non-detects of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons.”
Samples from the long-term monitoring were sent to an out-of-state EPA-certified laboratory and the Navy expects to receive those results in about a week.
