Contamination possibly linked to Red Hill could shut down another water well, BWS confirms - Hawaii News Now

Contamination possibly linked to Red Hill could shut down another water well, BWS confirms

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Red Hill community group alerted Hawaii congress members that another public water well could be forced to shut down because of a contamination plume from the Red Hill fuel spills.

Since the Navy’s tainted water disaster in 2021, the Board of Water Supply shut down its Halawa shaft and Aiea wells to avoid sucking in fuel to the publics water system.

Now, the the agency confirmed to Hawaii News Now that its Ka’amilo well could be the next close, though it is unclear when this might happen.

On Monday, the Board of Water Supply said its shuttered Aiea well had shown recent detections of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), a class of chemicals found in crude oil and fuel. National health officials say chronic exposure can increase cancer risk. BWS leaders say these findings could mean a contamination plume from the Red Hill fuel spills in 2021 and 2014 may be traveling west.

“The bomb that was the Red Hill disaster is still going off,” said Marti Townsend, chair of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative.

The group is warning congress that BWS’ Ka’amilo well could soon shut down. BWS says this well is a half mile away from the Aiea wells. The agency confirms another shut down is a possibility, but more data is needed.

“It’s at risk of being contaminated and it is within the realm of possibility that the Ka’amilo well needs to be shut down in order to protect that water supply, and that alternative sources of water will need to be found for residents in Central Oahu,” said Townsend.

BWS says the Ka’amilo well produces 1 million gallons of water per day.

The agency says its findings were corroborated by the Navy’s own testing from its groundwater monitoring wells.

On the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Safe Waters website, Hawaii News Now saw detections of PAHs, also called Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons, in six groundwater monitoring wells.

From May to July, there 30 PAH detections with 3 exceedances of Navy standard levels.

“These are multiple PAH chemicals some of which we detected in our Aiea wells earlier,” said Ernie Lau, Board of Water Supply, chief engineer and manager.

“Based on the information provided in the BWS letter, the Navy does not concur with their conclusions. The Navy conducts extensive bi-weekly sampling of a network of 40+ groundwater monitoring wells around Red Hill where test results do not support similar conclusions,” said a spokesperson for Navy Closure Task Force - Red Hill.

Hawaii News asked “were PAHs detected in Navy wells,” but the Navy did not respond to that specific question.

“Not surprised, this isn’t the first time they refuse to answer questions,” said Townsend.

“At one point, one of the Navy officials was just looking away, refusing to look at the Safe Waters website, their own their own website. This is just part of the culture at the Navy that needs to be changed,” she added.

The Board of Water Supply is asking federal and state regulators to order the Navy to do weekly testing. For now, the EPA is questioning BWS asking if the contamination is coming from other sources.

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