The Navy says contaminated Hawaii water is now safe. Citing an EPA report, residents say otherwise.

Petroleum may be lingering in Pearl Harbor's water system on Oahu, Hawaii, the federal government says.

The revelation came Dec. 20 in an Environmental Protection Agency report released days after the U.S. military completed the final phase of defueling the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility in Honolulu.

The facility, which supplies water to roughly 93,000 residents in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, caused a November 2021 water contamination incident.

Persistent complaints from residents regarding water quality prompted the EPA's investigation, which revealed petroleum hydrocarbons in the drinking water of three out of four homes. Residents have raised concerns after experiencing similar symptoms to those during the 2021 contamination, such as rashes, headaches, heartburn and fatigue.

The Navy, their water provider, maintains the water is safe.

The EPA findings have sparked inquiries into the Navy's water distribution center and plumbing in Pearl Harbor Homes. While the Navy examines residents' plumbing, a citizens group is urging the Navy to take further safety measures.

Activists, including Wayne Tanaka of the Sierra Club, are expressing concerns about the water testing methodology and standards. Despite petroleum levels being below the Hawaii Department of Health's screening threshold, concerns persist that the levels may not accurately reflect the threat posed.

What is the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility?

The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility is among the country's largest fuel storage facilities, towering 100 feet above Oahu’s federally designated sole-source groundwater aquifer, which supplies approximately 25% of the drinking water for the island.

Since its construction in 1943, the facility has experienced 73 leaks, resulting in the release of more than 180,000 gallons of fuel, according to the Sierra Club. The Navy disputes that.

The most recent incident happened in November 2021, when a fuel tank leak released approximately 19,000 gallons of fuel into the aquifer, subsequently polluting the water supply. The next month, Hawaii health officials reported that testing conducted on a nearby well detected petroleum hydrocarbons at levels up to 350 times higher than the state's designated safe threshold for drinking water.

In March 2022, the Pentagon announced plans to permanently shut down Red Hill. A significant reason was that many families in the area reported that they had become sick after drinking the contaminated water. The Navy has since devised a five-year plan to defuel and close down the facility.

The defueling process began Oct. 16 with a series of oil tankers that carried away gravity-drained fuel from the storage facility. As of Dec. 8, Joint Task Force-Red Hill reported that they had removed more than 104 million gallons of fuel.

On Dec. 15, Joint Task Force-Red Hill completed a process called unpacking, which was to remove the rest of the fuel, an estimated 174,000 gallons.

Here's what the EPA report says

While the Navy has continued to insist that the Red Hill water is now safe, the EPA says it investigated after residents again began complaining about water quality.

According to its investigation, the water in three of four homes detected petroleum hydrocarbons as diesel, ranging from 56 to 71.2 parts per billion. The EPA noted that all petroleum hydrocarbon results were below the Hawaii Department of Health's screening level of 266 parts per billion for total petroleum hydrocarbons.

Among their complaints: residents observed a strange odor or oily sheen in the water and developed symptoms similar to those observed during the 2021 contamination. Residents reported that they or their children had developed unusual rashes, headaches, heartburn or fatigue after drinking the water.

One resident said that one of their children "began screaming" and complained about pain on the bottom portion of their body for 30 minutes after taking a shower on October 16. They noted that a similar incident happened after the same child took a shower during the November 2021 contamination.

Another claimed to have developed sinus issues and been congested and groggy every morning for the past year. The same resident believes that the contaminated water may have killed their pet fish.

Residents are skeptical of what the Navy is saying

Lacey Quintero, a 38-year-old former Navy veteran, said that she isn't surprised by the EPA's report. Quintero, her husband, and two children moved to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu in November 2021 but later moved to private housing off base to escape the contamination.

She said her family suffers from health issues that began during the 2021 contamination, from chronic fatigue to cognitive deficiencies. Many of her friends living on base believe that their water is still contaminated, Quintero said.

"I was just very happy that the EPA even did the report. I was happy because I felt like, you know, this is one governmental organization that's doing their job; they're actually going to look into this," Quintero told USA Today.

Quintero is a member of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, a citizens group that advocates for residents with the Department of the Navy. Her family is one of more than 100 who await the result of a pending lawsuit against the Navy.

Quintero believes the Navy is aware that the Red Hill water is still contaminated and is misleading the public by claiming that it is safe to drink.

"They're just going to let people suffer, cover it up, whatever," Quintero said. "And then, meanwhile, you know, you'll see us down the road, the next Camp Lejeune."

Camp Lejeune, located in Jacksonville, North Carolina, served as a U.S. Marine Corps base. Between 1953 and 1987, the base's water supply was contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), exceeding safe limits by up to 3,400 times. This contamination affected over a million Marines, their families, and civilian employees, leading to severe health consequences like cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses.

The contamination at Camp Lejeune resulted from on-base spills at industrial sites, leaks from underground storage tanks, and drums at dumps and storage lots. Allegations were made against the Marine Corps, accusing them of concealing knowledge of the issue and failing to take necessary actions or inform former residents.

Quintero is one of 4,000 members of the "JBPHH Water Contamination Group" on Facebook. The support group includes residents of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam who frequently post updates regarding their health defects, (which they claim to have suffered from ongoing water contamination.)

It also does frequent polls for residents to describe the status of their symptoms.

What is the Navy doing in response to the report?

According to the EPA, the results from their investigation could suggest an issue within the Navy water distribution center or the plumbing within Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.

The Navy is investigating residents' plumbing, and the EPA has requested that the Navy share the test results with both the EPA and the Hawaii Department of Health.

Additionally, the EPA is urging the Navy to continue testing beyond the initially agreed-upon target date of February 2024. That request is outlined in a letter from Amy Miller, the EPA's regional enforcement director, to Navy Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii.

In a Dec. 21 news release, the Department of the Navy agreed to comply with the EPA's request.

“My team has worked with the EPA and numerous stakeholders to sample and test these homes so all our residents can be assured their water remains safe and clean,” Barnett said. “We remain committed to constant communication with EPA and DOH, our residents, and the broader community as we continue to ensure this water remains safe.”

The Red Hill Community Representation Initiative wasn't happy with the Navy's response to the report. Among their requests, the group is urging the Navy to replace hot water heaters and plumbing systems in the affected homes. They're also calling on the Navy to provide alternative clean water sources for residents.

"What needs to happen is that the pipes need to be replaced. That's what they did in Flint, Michigan; that's what they should do here," Quintero said. "Those pipes are contaminated. They need to replace them. The water heaters are contaminated. They need to be replaced. The military landlords, obviously, don't want to do that."

Quintero also expressed skepticism regarding the Navy's plumbing investigation.

"I wish that anyone other than the Navy was doing the investigation on the premise plumbing. Because the Navy has known this has been a problem," Quintero said. "And if they were going to do that, they would have already done it."

Some critics question the testing methodology

The EPA's investigation uncovered petroleum hydrocarbon levels below the Hawaii Department of Health's screening threshold, but some activists are critical of the testing methodology and standards. Wayne Tanaka, the director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii, contends that reports of residents falling ill suggest that the screening levels do not accurately reflect the risks.

The screening levels are set by the Hawaii Department of Health and have changed over time. They were raised from 160 parts per billion to 400 in 2017, before being lowered to 200 parts per billion in 2022 and raised again later that year.

Petroleum hydrocarbon detections are not direct indicators that fuel is present in a sample, but suggest that it's possible. Petroleum Hydrocarbons are a large class of chemicals made up of carbon and hydrogen that are the primary compounds found in common fuels.

"I?d be very interested to know what they think the source of TPH-d would be if not residual jet fuel, and what they plan to do in any case given that it is their water system and service members? families being exposed to petroleum in their drinking water," Tanaka said.

According to Tanaka, the Navy's testing for jet fuel involves specific analytes such as Volatile Organic Compounds or TPH-d. However, he emphasizes that mixed chemicals can form new substances with different chemical profiles, potentially evading detection. For instance, hydrocarbons combined with chlorine transform into chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Tanaka raised concerns about potential chemical interactions in the Navy's water system, including substances such as Simple Green household cleaner, fluoride, deicing agents and corrosion inhibitors.

Tanaka suggests that water samples could be screened more effectively and rapidly than the Navy's methods. He points to a rapid screening method developed by the University of Hawaii that can detect minute amounts of TPH-d and possibly other contaminants in nearly real time. Tanaka believes such methods could be employed to safeguard consumers while awaiting official test results.

"They're not inclined to require it. But that doesn't mean anybody can't explore that as an additional safeguard," Tanaka said

Quintero agreed with Tanaka's assessment

"Everyone is happy to just sit back and say, water's safe water's safe, and it's not. They're calling the water safe based on this Department of Health number," Quintero said. "But that water is not a number that is based on a human health assessment. So they cannot use that number to call the water safe."

Jeremy Yurow is a politics reporting fellow based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: EPA, residents raise alarm after Red Hill contamination