The Hawaiʻi Department of Health was informed late Wednesday night that 12 Navy water system users reported symptoms they had attributed to exposure to tap water.
The state Department of Health has rejected the U.S. Navy’s defueling plan for the Red Hill fuel storage facility, saying the plan lacks detail. HPR's Sabrina Bodon reports.
Military families living near Pearl Harbor have complained for days of stomach pain, nausea and other health ailments after the Navy's water system became contaminated by petroleum. The issues may threaten one of Honolulu’s most important aquifers and water sources. The Navy says tests identified petroleum in a well that taps into an aquifer near the base.
Environmental groups are calling on President Joe Biden and military leaders to shut down tanks that provide an important fuel reserve for U.S. forces in the Pacific. The director of the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi told a rally and news conference that the Red Hill fuel storage tanks are an unacceptable threat to the drinking water of 400,000 Oʻahu residents.