Hawaii officials seek to quell concerns about unsafe drinking water at school

For weeks, community members and state lawmakers representing Ewa Beach have been soliciting donations of bottled water for students at Iroquois Point Elementary School amid myriad concerns about unsafe drinking water due to either lingering effects of the 2021 Red Hill water crisis or the detection in 2022 of unsafe lead levels in a number of the school’s water fountains and sinks.

Donations have poured in from Pepsi, CVS Longs and a local philanthropic foundation, with more cases expected to be on the way, according to community members.

State education officials, however, say the water drives have been spurred by misinformation and that the water and pipes that serve the school, which are part of the Navy’s drinking water system, are safe. A handful of water fountains at the school were shut down in 2022 after water samples detected high lead levels, but DOE says the problem was determined to be contained to the now off-limits faucet fixtures.

But state Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), who has participated in the water drives, said the community remains wary of the water and that a larger problem is that DOE is taking so long to fix the water fountains, limiting the students’ sources of drinking water.

“The Navy and DOE need to take this very seriously,” said Fevella.

Iroquois Point Elementary School was among seven public schools that were on the Navy’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam drinking water system, which was contaminated by jet fuel in November 2021. The school had to switch to bottled water for several months as the Navy and health officials worked to flush the water system, which serves about 93,000 people.

Then in August the school was notified by the state Department of Health that 13 out of 83 of its sinks and drinking water fountains had tested positive for lead, including six that were above the lead action level of 15 parts per billion set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, prompting the school to cordon off those faucets. One of the drinking water fountains had a particularly high lead level of 128 ppb.

The testing was part of a statewide initiative to sample and eradicate lead exposure in drinking water at schools. Iroquois Point Elementary School was among three- quarters of Hawaii’s public elementary schools that tested positive for high lead levels in at least one sink or drinking water fountain.

Lead is particularly harmful for the developing brains of infants and young children, who can be exposed through various sources including old lead paint. High blood lead levels can cause learning disabilities, lower IQs, behavioral problems and slowed growth, according to the EPA.

DOE officials say some people conflated the past water troubles, resulting in erroneous information circulating through the community and spurring requests for water donations.

“The allegations first focused on Iroquois Point Elementary School and the Red Hill water crisis, then evolved to include lead contamination in the school pipes and Ewa Beach Elementary, none of which are accurate,” said DOE spokesman Derek Inoshita.

On April 5 the school’s principal, Ofelia Reed, sent a letter to parents alerting them to “inaccurate information” being circulated ahead of an Ewa Beach Lions Club Easter celebration that included a water drive for the school.

“The misinformation states that our school is still being impacted by the Red Hill Water Crisis and that our students are required to bring their own bottled water daily for drinking purposes, as the basis for a community bottled water donation drive at the event,” according to a copy of the letter provided by DOE. “We want to reassure you that our water supply is safe for all uses and that this description is not accurate.”

Still, Ofelia said bottled water is provided to anyone who requests it.

Julie Reyes Oda, former president of the Leeward Chapter of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and a teacher in Nanakuli, has helped lead the effort to obtain water donations. Oda said she became involved after several teachers from Iroquois Point Elementary School sought help.

Reyes Oda said they had approached the HSTA Leeward Chapter with a presentation titled “There is something in the water: the continued water crisis at Iroquois Point Elementary School.” The presentation included claims that the school lacked a clean source of drinking water.

Reyes Oda said she was upset by DOE’s messaging that the water is safe.

“DOE is trying to say this is safe, and I said, ‘You guys haven’t gone there in how long?’” she said. “’Why don’t you guys go and address the people that work there? Why don’t you guys go over there and drink the water? And why don’t you guys bring your family to drink the water instead of telling people to do it themselves?’”

DOE said that it’s still finishing up scoping work to determine the extent of fixtures statewide that need to be replaced as a result of its lead testing. After that the work will be put out to bid. DOE said the aim is to have all the fixtures replaced over the summer break, after which the water will be retested.