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Noah Ambrose

Mr. Lay

English 11B S2 (A3)

5/13/2022

The Red Hill Water Crisis

Introduction

It is estimated that about 7.2 million Americans get sick every year from diseases spread

through dirty drinking water. Because the human body relies on clean drinking water to survive,

it is imperative that communities work together to protect their water sources. In ancient

times, the Hawaiians were very protective of their water sources and with strict water

preservation laws, they were able to thrive. They understood that respecting and taking care of

their water sources today would give them water tomorrow and that being in an isolated

location made this even more important. It is now our time to protect and preserve the water

of Hawaii through good laws and enforcement.

It is up to all of us to learn how our actions affect our environment and to do our part.

That is what makes the fuel spill at the Red Hill Storage units even more upsetting. This Water

Crisis has been going on for many years now and has no real solution to this day with the state

still trying to figure out a way to stop the damage. There are many people in Hawaii working to

hold those in charge responsible.

The problem
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Pollution and waste have huge effects on our water sources and drinking water because

almost all the US drinking water comes from surface water and underground aquifers. There

are many causes of pollution including chemicals from industry and farming, human waste from

sewage, animal waste, and natural sources of contamination. What is groundwater and why

should we protect it? Ground water is used in many industries and most importantly for

drinking and most people use it but have no idea how we get it and what can threaten it. In the

1970s and 80s guidelines were set by the EPA to protect our groundwater in response to many

people getting sick by contaminated water. Each state tried to understand the occurrence and

flow of their ground water and sets guidelines to protect it

Some basic terms

Ground Water – is a term that refers to the water occurring below ground in zones

where open space is saturated or filled with water.

Aquifer- Any zone that allows the movement of water and can supply a usable quantity

of water to a well or spring. An aquifer can be composed of loose sediment or cemented rock.

In aquifers composed of sands and gravel, water flows through the openings between the

grains, were in cemented aquifers, water can only flow through an available network of

connected fractures or cracks in the rock. Aquifers are replenished by infiltrating rainfall or

surface streams that can penetrate overlying soils

The water table (ground-water surface) in an aquifer rises in response to recharge from

rainfall and streams, and falls in response to drought, pumping conditions, or other

withdrawals. Any changes that occur in the elevation of the water table reflect a net recharge
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to or discharge from the aquifer. Contaminates found in surface water can seep into any of

these underground water sources.

The Red Hill Crisis

The Red Hill Fuel spill became national news in 2021 when local residents began falling

sick with no explanation. One person’s dog got sick and that was how he figured something

was wrong with the water and soon he also got sick with stomach cramps. Following that, his

daughter became nauseous, and they just kept getting sicker. People also reported having

headaches and breathing problems even weeks after stopping to use the water

Navy residents started complaining about a fuel like smell coming from their water and

The Navy then confirmed that the well that gives the nearby Military housing community had

been contaminated with petroleum and that the water at Red Hill Shaft was 350 times more

contaminated than the state of Hawaii allows. The spill also threatened one of Honolulu’s most

important water sources in Honolulu. Some of the effects to residents from the spill. Initial

reports say 93,000 residents affected so the city shut down a nearby well that provides 20% of

Honolulu water. Many families were forced to leave their homes and were living in a hotel

room. The Navy is paying for the hotel room, but some families did not receive the money they

needed for gas and food in Waikiki which is $100 a day. 748 households and 3000 people had to

leave their homes. “My fear was that something terrible would happen before people wake up

and this comes to their attention,” Ernie Lau, chief engineer of the Honolulu Board of Water

Supply, said. The Red Hill facility is 20 massive tanks that use gravity to deliver fuel to Pearl

Harbor 2.5 miles away. They sit underground in Halawa with 10 tanks in two rows connected by
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concrete tunnels and pipelines. It holds 180 million gallons of fuel and is just 100 feet above a

groundwater aquifer that supplies 77% of Oahu’s water. The entire system is old, made in a

rush in 1940, is only ¼” thick and is now corroding. Some areas are not even able to get to in

order to maintain. The facility is extremely important to US security but 73 fuel tanks leaks of

180,000 gallons have happened since 1943. The state Dept. of Health asked the Navy to install a

leak detection system in 2008 but it was reported that these alarms could ring for a month and

were ignored. These same facilities have been removed around the country, but Red Hill tanks

has not. The navy claimed they could keep it safe. Then it happened, Thanksgiving weekend

when military residents started claiming about a fuel smell and people and pets getting sick.

Many news agencies had been reporting on problems with the tank as early as 2014. But now

the water for 400,000 people is now at risk. BWS (Board of Water Supply) says there is no

barrier to protect our water, and no one knows just how much contamination and where it is

and where it is going. BWS said the once an aquifer is contaminated, there is not much that can

be done. Ernest Lau reported to us in a recent interview that since 1943, at least 180,000

gallons of fuel have leaked from the Red Hill facility into the surrounding environment

contaminating our water and many more things. 8 years ago, 2014, 27,000 gallons leaked and

the facility owner, the US Navy, were not keeping people informed, the media gets

misinformed information and communication has been challenging. He further confirmed that

180 million gallons of gasoline sits only a hundred feet over our drinking water. One problem

there might be is that when the tanks have been removed there might be lasting effects.

Our solution
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How can we protect (Hawaii’s) Drinking Water? It is everyone’s responsibility to learn

how to protect our water and take everyday actions by:

 Learning about source water protection

 Volunteer in your community

 Participate in source water planning at the community level

 Study your local water source has a drinking water quality report and take

appropriate action

 Do not pour hazardous waste like oil, paint cleaners down the drain or spoil

them on the ground because these may seep into our ground water

 Try not to use pesticides and poisons in your yard. These can run off into our

storm drains and streams

 Maintain septic tanks

 Do not flush medications down the toilet

 Join a beach or stream clean up

 Prepare a presentation about your watershed for your school or civic

organization

 Discuss water quality threats, dangers of pollution run off and highlight actions

people can take to protect water systems such as limiting fertilizer use and

properly maintained septic system

 Organize a STENCIL program. Stencil a message next to storm drains reminding

people not to dump waste

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 Use images to make a connection: fish, streams, lakes, groundwater, protect

your water logo

 Make fliers and posters to remind your neighbors that storm drains and any

pollution in the area can dump directly into their water

 Work with your local water supplier to protect the water shed

Through this project, I have learned a lot about my role in keeping our water safe. I have begun

to take note of my own water usage and have started to set a timer to see how long my

showers are. I have also committed to spreading awareness in the community through a

Facebook page filled with informative information and a poster campaign in school.

Red Hill Solutions

Sadly, we really do not have the information necessary to fully understand if other wells

could be at risk and dispute years of threats from these fuel tanks, we still lack knowledge

damage there has been, when, where. Fortunately, there is a new sense of urgency now that

people have been proven to have gotten sick from these spills. These events have given more

need to understand what needs to be done to fix this environmental threat and understand

where the contaminants are.

“Are they just under Red Hill, or are they somewhere else?” asked Clifford Voss, a hydrologist

with the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center. He explains that without

critical information they really do not know what to do.

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Understanding the flow of the groundwater in this area is top of mind for all agencies involved

and the terrain underground is so unique and difficult to understand that UH is seeking funds

from the Navy to study it. What is complicating everything is that the recent spill is now mixing

with A 2014 spill, and no one is agreeing where the groundwater is heading. The navy says it

flows from Red Hill to Pearl Harbor, but others disagree. Because they disagree, the BWS

(Board of Water Supply) is unable to feel confident to reopen the Halawa shaft that they closed.

The BWS (Board of Water Supply) has asked the citizens to conserve water.

The Navy was asked to study the groundwater flow after the 2014 spill and presented

their findings in 2020 but others say it was wrong. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

stated that the Navy’s report had too many errors and was impossible. The Navy claimed that

they could contain the spill if it happened but the BWS did not think so, so it turned off the

Halawa pump because no one knows if fuel degrades and how long that would take. To get

answers, scientists will need to drill “observation wells” into the water table, collect data and

map the contamination — an expensive and difficult process, UH’s Voss said. “There isn’t an

easy way,” he said. Voss also explained If the contamination has not spread it could be sealed.

If it has, the water will need to be filtered. During our zoom meeting with Ernie Lau, chief

engineer of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply explained that to fix this we can install a water

treatment plant to remediate the contamination it caused and drain the facility of fuel until it

can demonstrate and can operate safely. Previous efforts – accumulate some of the reports and

data from the navy, also meetings with the navy, and the department of health

The Navy at Red Hill tried to flush out their water system, which was contaminated with

fuel tainted water, some of the water they filtered through small tanks containing activated
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carbon which they call GAC, right now they are also flushing out red hill shaft their drinking

water source which is heavily contaminated with fuel by running it through larger tanks of

activated carbon.

Study in 2010 – to look at a water treatment system for Red Hill water shaft, which is their

drinking water source, in this study they outlined a potential water treatment system using

activated carbon like what their using now but also something called air stripping so basically

trying to flow high air through the water to try to evaporate out the fuel components and then

filtered through activated carbon, so it is safe to drink.

Conclusion

In conclusion my Solutionary project opened my eyes to not only how important clean

drinking water is, I learned what contaminated water can do to our communities and the

people of Hawaii. I learned that there are many things that we can do to help prevent the

contamination of our drinking water such as conservation and strict rules to protect our water

sources like the ancient Hawaiians did. I learned that I could monitor my own usage and spread

awareness in my community through posters and online platforms. I learned we are dealing

with decisions that were made many years ago such as decision to put the Red Hill fuel tanks

directly above an important water source for Hawaii. It’s now our responsibility to not blame

the decisions that were made in the past but to fix them now. We need to be as passionate

about these problems as Ernest Lau of the board of water supply. If we all do this, we can look

forward to many many generations of pure drinking water.

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Work cited

“Oahu's Water History.” Oahu's Water History - Board of Water Supply,

https://www.boardofwatersupply.com/about-us/oahus-water-history.
Hofschneider, Anita. “The Red Hill Water Crisis Has Affected Civilians, Too. They Want More
Help.” Honolulu Civil Beat, 14 Dec. 2021, https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/12/the-red-hill-
water-crisis-has-affected-civilians-too-they-want-morehelp
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“Waterborne Disease in the United States.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 Dec. 2020,
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/burden/index.html.
EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/drinking-
water#:~:text=Human%20wastes%20from%20sewage%20and%20septic%20systems
%20can,Giardia%2C%20Cryptosporidium%2C%20and%20E.%20coli.%20Treatment
%20and%20distribution.