It's been almost 2.5 years since fuel-contaminated water turned the lives of thousands of families on the Navy water system upside down.
More than 90,000 people relocated to hotels after fuel from underground tanks at Red Hill got into their tap water in fall 2021.
A federal court trial starts Monday for military families seeking damages against the federal government for exposure to the fuel-contaminated water.
Attorney Kristina Baehr is part of a team of lawyers from Just Well Law representing 7,500 affected individuals in three federal cases.
Baehr said some of her clients will tell their stories to U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi.
"These are families who were once healthy and happy and fine, and their experience is consistent with Dr. John Oh, who's the government's doctor, who is the head of the Defense Health Agency. He acknowledges that, in general, people are sicker now. And that's true for many of the plaintiffs. Not all of them, but many of them," Baehr said.
Baehr said her team will call 24 witnesses, including plaintiffs and experts.
"I think the judge is going to hear and appreciate the extent of the harm that they're going to testify to. And that's what this case will really be about, the extent of the harm and the plaintiffs' experiences of the last 2.5 years," Baehr told HPR.
In a new development Thursday morning, the Navy announced laboratory contamination is to blame for the low levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons found in water samples taken this year throughout the Navy's water system.
The Navy said that the results were not associated with a jet fuel leak at the Red Hill underground facility. It plans to keep testing to determine what is causing the reports of odors, sheens and other health concerns.
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 25, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
