It’s been almost two weeks since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pressed the Navy to determine the source of petroleum hydrocarbons found in water at a handful of military homes.
In the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday, a military wife urged the Navy to replace the pipes and water heaters in the homes where low levels of contamination were detected in October.
The trace amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons were below the action level of 266 parts per billion. The residences had levels of 71 or below. There was no detection of oil or gasoline, which would link it to jet fuel formerly stored in the Red Hill underground tanks.
Amy Miller is the head of the EPA's Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division for Region 9 out of San Francisco. She said the source of the contaminants is still unclear.
The Navy said it continues to sample impacted houses and will share the results when its assessment is complete. Long-term water testing has been ongoing since the 2021 Red Hill fuel leak.
"We made some recommendations that they needed to go a little bit further because there are still complaints with rashes and concerns, and so those need to be followed up on and perhaps looking at the premise plumbing may be a good place to do some analysis," Miller said.
Premise plumbing is the portion of a home's water system connected to a main system, like the Navy's, via service lines. Water heaters, showers and toilets are some examples.
"I just want to stress again, these are very low levels, almost to the point of not being able to be detected," Miller said. "But part of the point of the long-term monitoring is to monitor and, if there are problems in the system, to further investigate and figure out what the root causes and eliminate that cause."
This story aired on The Conversation on Jan. 3, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
