The Honolulu City Council wants weekly testing of monitoring and drinking water wells following the 2021 leak at the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
The council this week passed a resolution urging the federal government to complete water quality tests and submit them to a third-party laboratory.
It would test the levels for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”
More than 300 written testifiers supported the measure, asking for more frequent, better data on water quality and for a third-party laboratory to test the water samples — not the Navy itself.
Marti Townsend, chair of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, said better testing will help keep the Navy honest.
“ They're very good at saying things that sound really good but aren't actually enforceable. You'll read in their testimony, contrary to what the (Honolulu) Board of Water Supply says, ‘We're actually doing a great job, robust, comprehensive testing,’” Townsend told the city council.
She added, “What does that mean? For the Navy, it means as much testing as can be done without proving their responsibility, their liability, their, you know, to not get them in trouble.”
The measure also wants more monitoring wells to be installed to the west and northwest of the fuel storage facility, and unredacted laboratory reports submitted to BWS.
The Navy, through its contractor, has been accused of improperly conducting water quality tests. Third-party tests that residents have done on their own have revealed additional chemicals in the water not found in Navy tests.
