Recent water samples taken from the Navy’s Red Hill drinking water shaft contained petroleum chemicals associated with diesel fuel that were 350 times above the level the state considers safe, according to testing conducted by the state Department of Health.
DOH says the Red Hill shaft samples also tested positive for gasoline range organics at levels that were more than 66 times the state’s “environmental action level.”
The samples were collected Dec. 5, a week after the Navy and state health officials began receiving reports from users of the Navy’s drinking water system that their tap water smelled like fuel or chemicals and had a strange sheen or feel to it. Since then, many military families have complained of health effects from the water, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and skin rashes.
Health officials say those symptoms are consistent with consuming or having contact with petroleum- contaminated water.
About 3,200 families who live in the affected areas around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam have been displaced by the mounting water crisis. The military has been housing them in Waikiki hotels.
The DOH test results are the first to provide the public with a sense of the level of contamination within the Navy’s drinking water shaft, which the Navy identified last week as the source of pollution within its drinking water system.
The water samples, which were analyzed by Eurofins Laboratory in California, were found to have 140,000 parts per billion of total petroleum hydrocarbons that are associated with diesel (TPH-d). The DOH’s environmental action level for TPH-d is 400 ppb.
The lab found total petroleum hydrocarbons gasoline range organics (TPH-g) at 20,000 ppb, according to DOH. The environmental action level for TPH-g is 300 ppb.
Total petroleum hydrocarbons refers to several hundred chemical compounds that originally come from crude oil, which is used to make petroleum products, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Some of the chemicals that can be found in TPH are benzene, xylenes and napthalene.
Benzene is a known carcinogen, according to the EPA. Xylene is a flammable liquid, which can irritate the eyes, nose, skin and throat and cause more severe symptoms in high doses. Short-term exposure to napthalene can cause anemia, liver and neurological damage.
Capt. Michael McGinnis, a U.S. Pacific Fleet surgeon, said the health effects of exposure to petroleum-laced water are not well understood but current data suggests that short-term exposure does not result in long-term health effects.
“But we don’t know,” said McGinnis, stressing the uncertainty of the science.
Still, military officials are creating registries for people, including pregnant women, who were exposed to the petroleum contamination to help track any longer-term health effects.
Health officials say the pronounced health effects residents have described after exposure should subside quickly once they stop drinking or are no longer in contact with the contaminated water.
McGinnis said the military has conducted 4,667 medical evaluations, including medical screenings and visits, relating to the contaminated water. He said many people want to make sure their potential exposure was documented in their medical records.
The DOH released the test results from the Navy’s Red Hill shaft shortly before the start of a joint briefing of the state House of Representatives and Senate on the water contamination crisis that included top officials from the Navy, DOH and Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
Top officials with DOH and BWS have expressed frustration in their attempts to get the Navy to turn over test results and share data and information.
But in his opening remarks before the Legislature at Friday’s briefing, Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, described the relationship with the local agencies as a “profound partnership.”
Paparo said that “throughout the entire process” the Navy has been working “very closely” with officials at the DOH, BWS and EPA, which he said have provided “magnificent support.”
“We could not be more grateful,” Paparo said. “Our paramount obligation is to protect the health and well being of all the people.”
Navy Rear Adm. Blake Converse, who has been leading the crisis action team, said the Navy now believes that the source of the drinking water contamination is jet fuel that spilled from a pipeline Nov. 20, though the investigation is ongoing and expected to be completed in January.
The Navy reported that 14,000 gallons of fuel and water spilled from a drain line at its Red Hill Underground Fuel Facility starting Nov. 20 and continuing through the next day. The Navy said in a news release at the time that the fuel was contained in the lower tunnel and had been transferred to an above-ground storage tank.
“There are no signs or indication of any releases to the environment, and the drinking water remains safe to drink,” the Navy said in its Nov. 20 news release.
Rear Adm. Dean VanderLey, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific, said during Friday’s briefing that officials now “have a high level of confidence” the current water contamination is associated with the Nov. 20 spill.
“We aren’t hiding that theory,” VanderLey said. “We came to this through personally pulling out construction drawings from 1943, poring over those drawings and identifying a lot of construction details.”
The Navy’s Red Hill shaft is located just downhill of its Red Hill fuel farm.
Since 2014, when the Navy disclosed that 27,000 gallons of fuel had spilled from the Red Hill fuel facility, there has been intense scrutiny from regulators and environmental groups on the safety of the World War II-era fuel facility. The Navy’s own reports have detailed a history of leaks over the years, groundwater contamination below the 20 massive, underground tanks and concerns about corrosion and aging materials.
The current water crisis has been a long-feared scenario. The current contamination is confined to the Navy’s water system but poses a risk to a major source of drinking water that is shared by BWS.
Legislators peppered Navy officials with questions throughout the hearing about how they planned to clean up the fuel and whether the Navy would comply with a state order from Gov. David Ige this week requiring it to remove all the fuel from its tanks as investigations continue into the safety of the fueling facility.
The Navy indicated earlier this week that it plans to fight the administrative order, and a Department of Health contested-case hearing is set for Thursday. While the Navy has said it is planning to treat the water contamination and investigate the cause, it has stopped short of saying it would be willing to drain its tanks.
In response to questions Friday, Paparo said the Navy is planning for that contingency.
“I have requested, as a precautionary measure to my boss, to begin executing the planning for what would the risks be for moving the fuel that is presently in the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility,” he said. “We will initiate the planning for how and where we would store that fuel and what the risks would be of its transference.”
