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Off the news: Troubling revelations from EPA water report

The Navy’s positive spin on results from an Environmental Protection Agency summer inspection of its Hickam-Pearl Harbor water system: that enhanced water sampling has found only relatively low-level traces of petroleum and of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, mostly below environmental actionable levels. The “water remains safe for consumption,” the Navy said.

Unfortunately, the report, which had several redactions, also cited missing and incomplete documents, as well as assorted corrosion and maintenance problems in the Halawa water shaft and reservoir. Expect more public questions about Navy operations and maintenance of this water system that serves some 93,000 users.

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