Aiea-Halawa well doesn’t have detectable petroleum, Navy officials now say

A day after the Navy reported dangerously high levels of diesel fuel in water samples collected at its Aiea-Halawa well, officials said the contamination came from an unused segment of the distribution system and that the well does not have detectable levels of petroleum.

The Navy’s about-face prompted a Honolulu Board of Water Supply news conference where officials questioned the results and urged more sampling to determine the source of the pollution and figure out which way the contaminated groundwater beneath the Navy’s tanks is flowing.

The state Department of Health maintained Thursday that diesel fuel levels detected pose a public health threat and that the water is not safe to drink.

Ernest Lau, BWS manager and chief engineer, said the Navy informed the city agency on Wednesday that a level of 920 parts per billion of total petroleum hydro­carbons diesel range organics, or TPH-d, was found in the Aiea-Hala­wa water shaft. The DOH environmental action level for TPH-d is 400 parts per billion, meaning that the substance level was more than double the DOH’s limits for drinking water.

“I got a call a couple hours later, from the same person in the Navy, basically trying to downplay the test result was not indicative of what’s in the aquifer. So my question to that individual was: ‘Wasn’t the water in that pipe you took the sample from coming out of that shaft? If it’s not coming out of the shaft, where did the diesel come from?’” Lau said.

Lau urged the DOH to do more testing to determine the source of the fuel. The Navy did not respond to the BWS questions, or those submitted by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, through a spokesman, deferred questions to Navy Region Hawaii. Rear Adm. Timothy J. Kott, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, did not respond to the Star- Advertiser’s requests for an interview.

In a news release, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take the lead on testing, analysis and public communication about about the Navy’s water system.

“EPA must take a more active role in addressing this crisis. We can’t afford another day of the Navy and state and county agencies disagreeing on the basic question of whether the drinking water is safe. We need a trusted independent agency with deep expertise and a mission of environmental protection to take over,” said Schatz.

Julia Giarmoleo, press officer and congressional and intergovernmental liaison for the EPA’s Region IX, said the EPA is not independently testing the water, but reviewing the Navy’s test results to ensure that “appropriate analytical test methods are being used.”

Further, she said, “Hawaii DOH is independently conducting testing of the water system, including sampling of the Navy Water System sources, storage tanks and residences.”

The EPA’s overall role includes: providing sampling analysis support, future laboratory support, and drinking water safety support to the DOH, and input on sampling and data monitoring to the Navy, Giarmoleo said. The EPA is also advising on air monitoring, she said, adding, “The agency will continue to provide support to all agencies in this public health emergency.”

Following the 2014 spill of more than 27,000 gallons of jet fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the EPA partnered with the DOH and entered into an administrative order on consent in 2015 with the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency. Under the order, the EPA and the state Health Department issue regulatory decisions on the Navy and DLA’s work to implement tank upgrade improvements, environmental investigation and remediation.

In a news release issued Thursday morning, the Navy said it is working with DOH to pursue more testing of the off-service section of the distribution system near the Navy’s Aiea-Halawa well that showed diesel fuel at levels more than double the state DOH’s limits for drinking water.

“This sample did not come directly from the Navy’s Aiea-Halawa Well and the Navy does not believe it indicates contamination of the Navy’s Aiea-Halawa Well. The Halawa well has not been used since Dec. 3, and a sample from that day, before the well was off-service, indicated that the water was safe,” according to the Navy news release.

The Navy received preliminary verbal results of the elevated diesel levels on Wednesday and notified the DOH, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey and BWS.

The Navy release stated: “After reviewing the detailed results from the independent laboratory conducting the testing, the Navy determined that the sample was not from the Halawa well but from an off-service section of the water distribution system.”

Of 100 samples tested by the Navy by a third-party private contractor on the mainland, 84 came back — and none from the “on- service” distribution system showed petroleum products at or near EPA or DOH limits, according to the Navy.

In response to the Navy’s latest statement, the BWS requested further clarification from the Navy regarding the water sample with high levels of diesel fuel.

“Since both the Navy’s Red Hill Shaft and Aiea Halawa Shaft are shut down, where did water come from? We would like the Navy to clarify. The BWS supports the DOH working with the Navy to collect and test additional samples to verify the initial finding as indicated in the release,” said Erwin Kawata, program administrator for the BWS Water Quality Division in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.

“If a sample is contaminated one day but comes back clean the next, additional samples should be collected to verify the difference, ” Kawata said. “Usually, such changes in a water system do not occur under normal operating conditions. However if a change occurred where a water source was shut down and replaced with another, then it is conceivably possible to see a detection one day and not the next.”

The BWS has no jurisdiction in this matter because the water system is owned and operated by the Navy, Kawata said. For years BWS has asked the Navy to consistently share comprehensive water quality test results, and give access and permission to for BWS to perform its own tests. Those requests have mostly been ignored, he said.

An August 2010 Navy audit of the Red Hill fuel storage facility indicated that diesel fuel started showing up in test results in 2009.

Groundwater contamination exists around the underground storage tanks at Red Hill because of “irregular maintenance and insufficient inspection over the life of the fuel tanks” and some tanks had not been inspected or maintained for 46 years, according to the 2010 audit.

The Navy entered into a January 2008 agreement with the state titled the “Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility Final Groundwater Protection Plan (GPP),” which set up a strategy to ensure Red Hill and potable water sources could operate safely.

“If the Navy Well becomes contaminated beyond acceptable levels, the Navy and the island of Oahu could potentially lose an important source of drinking water. If this occurs, the Pearl Harbor Water System would be reduced by approximately 24 percent. Further, the Navy would be responsible for providing an alternate water source at the Navy Well as indicated in the GPP,” the 2010 audit stated.

At the city level, Honolulu City Councilwoman Esther Kia‘aina introduced a resolution Thursday urging the permanent removal and relocation of the facility, pointing to a 2018 risk assessment that said more than 5,800 gallons of fuel leakage goes undetected every year.

Kia‘aina told the Star-Advertiser that most effective way to compel action is for Hawaii’s congressional delegation to pass legislation and provide the necessary funds to permanently remove the fuel storage tanks.

“They took action for the return of Kaho‘olawe, not the Navy. They took action to remedy the Navy’s illegal taking of lands at Lualualei, Oahu, out of the Hawaiian home lands inventory, for military purposes, not the Navy. The Hawaii congressional delegation can now take action on Red Hill,” she said.

Since the 2014 spill, the City Council regularly endorsed BWS’ attempts to get the Navy to provide secondary-containment tank upgrade alternatives, or relocation of the fuel tanks far away from the aquifer, Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga told the Star-Advertiser. Resolutions in 2015, 2018 and 2019 supported BWS’ efforts to curtail water and soil contamination.

“We must now turn these policies into action,” Fukunaga told the Star-Advertiser. “I have just as many concerns for residents and businesses in District 6 as for military families affected by contaminated water. … Most constituents that I’ve talked with during the past week express a preference for relocating the fuel to above-ground tanks that are far away from the Board of Water Supply’s water aquifer.”

City Councilman Brandon Elefante said the Navy has not provided a viable solution since 2014 and it is “well past” time for the issue to be addressed.

“The Honolulu Board of Water Supply has been the leader and at the forefront for keeping our water safe for our island community,” he said. “The U.S. Navy must answer to the BWS and the community.”

City Council Chairman Tommy Waters and Councilwoman Radiant Cordero introduced Bill 48 to require any operator of underground storage tanks with a capacity of 100,000 gallons or more to obtain a permit from the city. No permit would be approved unless the applicant proves that the “tank or tank system will not leak regulated substances into the environment,” according to a news release.

“Ola i ka wai, water is life. It is a basic truth of Hawaiian culture and for all people of the world,” said Waters, in a statement. “Without clean water, life cannot be sustained. This contamination, which could have been foreseen, is especially harmful and must be made right, which is why we are taking action.”

Cordero said the suspension of operations at Red Hill is the long-anticipated response to years of fuel leaks.

“However, the decision to contest the Department of Health’s Order not only undermines state and local government, it also shows the U.S. Navy’s blatant disregard for the health and safety of the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on the water aquifer under Red Hill,” Cordero told the Star-Advertiser.

“It is abundantly clear stricter regulations and concern for public health be paramount in the coming weeks, months, and years to remedy this crisis. We are at a critical point because with two of our BWS shafts shut down, we are compromising the conservation and capacity of our island’s water sources.”