The Navy has spent the last few days making its way through five stages of confusion: Denial of any serious problem with its underground fuel farm; deflection of concerns by military housing residents over tainted tap water; self-deprecation (oops, we responded badly); defusing, by announcing it had paused using the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

The final stage is still to come: acceptance — which should lead to decommissioning those 20 massive fuel tanks, poised just 100 feet above an aquifer that provides 75% of Oahu’s fresh water.

Collective trust in the Navy in this matter of fuel tanks, leaks and water quality, has run dry. The governor is fed up, too. So are state lawmakers and our congressional delegation.

This showdown has been in the making since a 27,000-gallon fuel leak in 2014, intensifying in recent months with news of more leaks and the Navy downplaying damage. It all crested last week when military households and schools that use the Navy’s water system reported signs of petroleum contamination in the smell, appearance and taste of their tap water. Many in this area — part of Moanalua and lower Halawa — have taken ill with symptoms from rashes to diarrhea; some reported their pets had sickened or died.

We now know the Navy’s own water tests showed petroleum contamination as far back as July, but the state wasn’t notified until late last month. It also turned out the Navy stopped drawing fuel from the Red Hill tanks back on Nov. 27, a day before it received any complaints from water users.

Still, Navy officials at first glossed over those concerns. Capt. Erik Spitzer, commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, even told military housing residents that he and his staff were drinking the water and it was safe. A few days later, Spitzer apologized, saying he was “deeply remorseful” for his words.

On Sunday, Ige and Hawaii’s congressional delegation called for immediate suspension of operations at Red Hill; on Monday, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said he would consider the “request,” although the Navy had already stopped drawing from the tanks. The ping-ponging was dizzying.

Gov. David Ige then forced the issue, announcing on Monday an emergency order requiring the Navy to clean up the water, drain the underground tanks and determine how to operate safely going forward. The order gives the Navy 30 days to come up with a plan, working with an “independent third party.” No more of the Navy keeping this in-house. And the state has another weapon: It could deny the Navy’s pending request for a five-year permit to keep Red Hill in operation.

The Navy, unfortunately, countered on Tuesday that it is contesting the state emergency order. This, despite having acknowledged that water from its Red Hill shaft has been contaminated, though it hasn’t determined how. Keep in mind, we’re talking about a system serving about 93,000 users. Imagine if a fuel leak were to infiltrate the Southern Oahu Basal Aquifer — the source of water for hundreds of thousands of residents all over the island.

Meanwhile, the congressional delegation called for a Department of Defense investigation of whether the Navy is capable of safely operating at Red Hill. The majority members of the Hawaii House of Representatives went further, calling for outright decommissioning.

The Navy’s position has been that the facility, which has powered the ships and jets of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam since World War II, is critical to national security and can be bolstered without moving it from beneath Red Hill. Decommissioning could cost as much as $10 billion and take decades.

To permanently shut down Red Hill will be immensely costly and complicated, but might be moderated if resources are committed now with closure as the aim; no half-measures. There is no other long-term solution. That aquifer is our water supply and it’s priceless.