Lauren Wright remains leery of the tap water at her US Navy family’s home in Hawaii, saying she doesn’t think it’s safe. Wright, her Navy husband and their three children, ages 8 to 17, were among the thousands of people sickened late last year after fuel from military storage tanks leaked into Pearl Harbor’s tap water. The family is back in military housing after spending months in Honolulu hotels, but continues to take safety precautions, including taking a short five-minute shower. They don’t drink their tap water or cook with it. A Navy investigation released Thursday blamed the fuel spill and subsequent water crisis on mismanagement and human error. Some Hawaiians, including Native Hawaiians, officials and military families said the report does not help restore confidence in the Navy. “I was hoping for at least some kind of remorse for the families and everybody involved in this,” Wright said. She said the ordeal changed her view of the military from a decade ago, when her husband first joined. “I was the proud Navy wife, you know, stickers and T-shirts,” she said. “I feel like the Navy has failed in what it promised every service member. They’ve failed in a lot of things. And I’m not that proud.” It’s hard to trust the Navy in part because Hawaii residents and officials have for years questioned the safety of giant fuel storage tanks that have sat atop a major aquifer since World War II, said Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a former administrator of the commission. for water resources. Management. “Releasing a report that says we were lied to is not a step towards building trust,” he said. “Removing fuel and permanently removing tanks, removing funds to restore water systems across Oahu and replanting our forests — when I see steps like that happening — that’s a tangible step toward rebuilding trust.” . Some Native Hawaiians said the report merely deepened a mistrust of the military that dates back to at least 1893, when a group of American businessmen, backed by U.S. Marines, overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom. More recently, Native Hawaiians have fought to stop the bombing of targets on Kahoolawe Island and Makua Valley on West Oahu. “There’s no evidence that I should have faith in them,” said Kalehua Krug, with Ka’ohewai, a cultural organization advocating for a clean aquifer for Oahu. “They have done nothing but lie for generations.” The Defense Department recognizes that the water problems “have damaged the trust between the Department and the Hawaiian people, including Native Hawaiians — and is committed to rebuilding that trust,” said Gordon Trowbridge, assistant secretary of defense for Public Affairs. he said in a statement. The investigation report released Thursday listed a series of errors since May 6, 2021, when an operator error caused a pipe to rupture and 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill while being transferred between tanks. Most of the fuel spilled into a fire line and remained there for six months, causing the line to loosen. A cart entered this slack on November 20, releasing 20,000 gallons (75,700 L) of fuel. The report said officials failed to assume the best about what was happening when the leaks occurred, instead of assuming the worst, and that contributed to overlooking the gravity of the situation. The spill contaminated the Navy’s water supply system. The fuel did not enter Honolulu’s municipal water supply. But concerns that oil could migrate through the aquifer and enter the city’s wells prompted the Honolulu Water Board in December to shut down a key well that served about 400,000 people. The agency has asked residents to conserve water because of this and the unusually dry weather. The reservoirs continue to pose a threat to Oahu’s drinking water while containing fuel, said Ernest Lau, the water company’s director and chief engineer. The report that it will take more than two years to drain the facility is worrying, Lau said on Friday. “The fact that they built this huge facility in three years, so they can’t find a way to do all the necessary work in less than two and a half years … I think it can be done,” he said, urging the Navy to consider the shortcut of the schedule. This week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “directed the creation of a joint task force led by a senior Navy admiral solely dedicated to a rapid defueling effort, who will report to him through the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, to oversee the defueling of Red Go up as fast as safety permits,” Trowbridge said. “The Department recognizes that what we say is far less important than what we do, which is why its senior leaders are focused on this effort.” Kristina Baehr, an attorney representing more than 100 military and civilian families who have filed claims against the Navy, said it was especially troubling to read in the report how widespread the mistakes were. “This is a national security issue,” she said, noting that many of her customers were still experiencing the effects of the contaminated water. “And our families and military communities cannot be ready to deploy if their government is sick.”
