Over the past four months, defueling of the massive tanks at Red Hill has been a successful textbook operation — providing a rare bright spot in an otherwise dark period of water contamination caused by the Navy’s November 2021 fuel spill. While most of the 104 million gallons of jet fuel have been emptied from the 20-tank facility that sits just 100 feet above a major aquifer, disturbing reminders continue to flare about ongoing health problems and risks. The military must be unwavering and forthright in providing answers and solutions.

Just three weeks ago, the state Department of Health (DOH) received some 50 complaints from Navy water system users about tap water and air quality. That prompted DOH to direct the Navy to test its Waiawa Shaft, today’s primary source for Navy water after the 2021 fuel disaster forced closure of the Red Hill Shaft and Aiea-Halawa Shaft.

The complaints also prompted the Navy, two weeks ago, to assemble a “swarm team” of drinking water experts to investigate the source of low-level detections of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water system. It’s important to stress that these low levels of TPH do not exceed safe drinking-water standards — but the ongoing complaints raise a mystery that must be solved.

To that end: The Navy on Wednesday did the responsible thing in extending operation of its Red Hill Medical Clinic, which had been scheduled to shut down March 24; this clinic must remain open indefinitely to offer real help for people with ongoing health issues.

The Navy also announced that it is developing an Extended Drinking Water Monitoring Plan, to “reinforce the Navy’s commitment” to finding the cause of, and address, the TPH detections; and to develop a “follow-on, voluntary drinking water monitoring plan.” This essentially will build on the Navy’s previous two-year monitoring plan, which ends in late March.

Clearly — and very concerningly — the Red Hill contamination saga is far from over. Even after the fuel is long gone from the tanks, the unfortunate reality is that health and environmental issues remain.

Two weeks ago, more than 2,200 military families and civilians filed a lawsuit against the federal government over contaminated water at the Pearl Harbor-Hickam base, the third such suit. Many say they still suffer health effects from the 2021 disaster that sent thousands of gallons of fuel into their homes’ tap water.

At Red Hill, removal is underway on the last 60,000 gallons of fuel remaining in tank bottoms and pipes; as of last Monday, 29,273 gallons of residual fuel had been removed.

The military is now transitioning from the defueling operation — laudably handled by a joint task force led by Vice Adm. John Wade — to one of facility closure and environmental remediation, under a Navy task force led by Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett. The closure task force must conduct itself with utmost transparency and community engagement, if it has any hope of regaining public trust that disintegrated during and after the 2021 water-contamination fiasco that sickened many and temporarily displaced thousands.

Unfortunately, the new task force got off to a shaky start last month, when the Navy pulled out of its Jan. 18 meeting with the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative (CRI). A reminder to the Navy: Meeting with the CRI is not optional — the initiative is a condition of the 2023 Red Hill Administrative Consent Order imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in response to public concerns. It gives 10 representatives of the community an opportunity to work directly with the Navy, Defense Logistics Agency and EPA on matters related to defueling, closure and drinking water safety at the Red Hill facility.

For the Navy to attempt any big-footing of the EPA consent order is wrong — and uncomfortably, conveys an intent to control the process. As discussions commence on Red Hill’s closure, Hawaii residents must stand firm on shutdown and remediation, and the Navy must work honorably over the next three years toward these goals.