As the military continues to grapple with the consequences of contamination of the Navy’s water system, the commander of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division offered a sobering assessment to residents of Aliamanu Military Reservation and Red Hill housing.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Ryan told an audience of service members and military dependents at a town hall Friday evening at the AMR Community Chapel. “We have made incredible progress over the last 24 to 36 hours. But we’re not near where we need to be because we need to be is to get families back in homes.”
On Thursday U.S. Army Pacific commander Gen. Charles Flynn ordered troops to set up a task force to assist families living in AMR and Red Hill, which rely on the Navy’s water system but ultimately fall under Army jurisdiction. To help oversee the response, Ryan flew into Honolulu on Friday morning from Japan, where U.S. troops are engaged in a large-scale exercise with the Japanese military.
The Pentagon considers the Pacific to be its top-priority theater of operations amid increasing tensions in the region, and has been shoring up its alliances as relations with China sour. Several Hawaii-based soldiers and airmen that had been participating in the exercise also returned to Hawaii.
“It’s an important exercise for Japan, and it’s important exercise for USARPAC and U.S. INDOPACOM (Indo-Pacific Command), but it’s not more important than what we’re doing right here.”
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The Army has dispatched 250 soldiers from 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, to go door-to-door delivering drinking water.
The Army task force has also set up a help desk to assist with medical screenings and help families move into hotels. Ryan said the Army has contracted for 2,300 hotel rooms to temporarily house families whose homes have been affected by the contamination. On Friday evening some 1,300 rooms were still available.
Army officials told residents they didn’t know when it would be safe to use the water again.
“Candidly, folks, I don’t know yet what that fully looks like,” said Ryan. “To me it involves the Hawaii Department of Health certifying that, yes, the water’s safe.”
Military families using the Navy’s water system have been reporting a series of rashes and illnesses, and last weekend began reporting that their water smelled like chemicals. The Navy has since detected contamination in its Red Hill well, and the Honolulu Water Board has shut off its Halawa well as a precaution.
Tripler Army Medical Center commander Martin Doperak told residents that the Army ultimately plans to conduct medical screenings for anyone who could have been affected.
On Monday, U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Samuel Paparo ordered a probe into the two leaks tied to the Navy’s Red Hill underground fuel storage facility determine whether they could be related. This came after emails leaked to local news media showed that Navy officials withheld knowledge of previous leaks while seeking an operating permit from the state and also hid senior Navy officers’ concerns.
“I can’t do anything about what’s been done or known or seen in the past,” Ryan said. “This is about trust and confidence and faith that when we fix it, this time we’re fixing it for good.” However, he added, “I can’t guarantee that.”
AMR and Red Hill house military families from all the different branches. Attendees at the town hall praised the Army’s recent efforts but expressed deep disappointment with the broader military response.
“Principally at this point, that is a responsibility of the U.S. Navy and PACFLEET; they are responsible for the water system,” Ryan said. “I can’t have a coup here and take the water system over, nor do I want to, because I want to work with my sister service and we’re in this together.”
