The Navy water distribution system on Oʻahu serves approximately 93,000 users. Most customers are military residents and their families, but there are also civilians on the system — and that includes seven Hawaiʻi public schools.
So far, three of the seven have had disruptions to their water supply because of fuel contamination from Red Hill.
The Conversation spoke with Randall Tanaka, assistant superintendent for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s Office of Facilities and Operations. He's the point person on all things relating to school infrastructure.
While the issue of water quality often focuses on drinking water, it also touches a much broader part of life. That’s especially true when it comes to public schools.
"It affects our kitchen operations, our restroom operations, hand washing operations, watering the grass," Tanaka said.
"It impacts our food operation tremendously," Tanaka told Hawaiʻi Public Radio. "What we do is we kick back to food that doesn't require that kind of preparation. And unfortunately, a lot of it is pre-made or frozen — pizza is an example."
All the meals still meet federal nutrition requirements such as reduced salt and sugar, he said.
"The kids love pizza every day, but pizza every day is probably not to the satisfaction of the parents. But they're still getting nutritious meals, we just got to change up the rotation," he said.
Because of the contaminated water, about 3,000 people were moved from military housing to Waikiki hotels — far from their local schools. Tanaka said the military has been transporting kids to school via bus.
Tanaka said he’s happy with the response of his team, which has been able to make use of some difficult lessons from the pandemic.
As for returning to water normalcy, Tanaka said he does not know when that will happen.
"Some situations they're saying the water is fine, but until they have a different level of confidence on what's happening, (Hawaiʻi Department of Health) still recommend that we do not drink the water," Tanaka said.
The Honolulu Board of Water Supply recently said it found no contaminants in its Halawa Shaft — further testing results will be coming. On Wednesday, the Honolulu City Council will hold a special meeting about the Red Hill crisis.
Later this week, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks will arrive in Hawaiʻi to meet with Navy officials, state leaders and families affected by the fuel-tainted water.
In a statement Monday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he is “personally monitoring” the situation at the fuel storage facility.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Dec. 14, 2021. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
