After the U.S. Navy released its internal investigation reports into last year’s leaks at its Red Hill fuel storage facility, Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau sat down with the pages.
The report details the path thousands of gallons of jet fuel took to get into the drinking water of more than 93,000 people, some of which surprised Lau.
“The BWS is disturbed but not surprised by the contents of the two documents released yesterday by the U.S. Navy regarding the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility,” Lau said. “The Navy’s command investigation into the May and November 2021 fuel releases finally acknowledges that the tragic drinking water contamination occurred as a result of the Navy’s ineffective responses to these fuel releases.”
He said that the BWS has been raising issues and warnings of “imminent peril” the Red Hill facility poses to public drinking water.
“Now, our irreplaceable sole source groundwater aquifer is contaminated, possibly irreparably. The Navy’s proposed defueling plan is equally disappointing,” Lau said.
He said he was shocked to learn that the Navy knew there was fuel floating on the water of the Red Hill shaft water development tunnel through a lava tube.
At a press conference Friday, Lau offered more questions.
"So where is that fuel moving? Is there a preferential pathway to actually spread that contamination that was in the Red Hill shaft to other locations of the aquifer and possibly carry it faster?" Lau said. "When you think of a lava tube, think of it as a natural pipe and the lava in the rock itself that's completely open and water can move freely through that lava tube. So where did it go? And how far is the fuel spreading in our aquifer?"
Lau says there’s no real way to know how far contamination spread, because there aren't enough monitor wells in Halawa Valley outside of the Navy's property.
BWS is currently in the process of awarding the contract for one well to be drilled. Lau says it should be finished by the end of this year, and there are plans for three more.
Lau said the timeline to defuel Red Hill, which the Navy estimates may be the end of 2024, is not soon enough.
“This is unacceptable, and the suggested timeline stands in stark contrast to the repeated assurances from the Navy over the last several years that the Red Hill tanks and pipelines are properly designed, constructed and installed so that each tank can be emptied in less than 24 hours,” Lau said. “Only now that defueling and the permanent closure is imminent, does the Navy claim that it will take over two years to defuel the Red Hill facility. The BWS and its ratepayers cannot afford to wait that long.”
