As we enter the final stage of 2021, we ask you to support our local non-profit newsroom.

We have raised $130,000 for our $225,000 fundraising goal. Thanks!

299 people became first-time supporters. Help us get 700 new donors!

The facility was hurriedly constructed during World War II, and although the Navy assured it was safe, there is still a history of leakage.

As residents of Oahu are shocked by the news that the drinking water of military households has been contaminated with oil and that the wider community’s water is also at risk, scrutiny of nearby naval fuel facilities is intensifying. 

But for many residents, officials and local environmental advocates, this crisis is not a surprise. For many years, they have believed that Red Mountain is an inevitable environmental and public health disaster. 

"I'm worried that something terrible will happen before people wake up, which caught their attention," Ernie Lau, chief engineer of the Honolulu Water Supply Commission, said this week. 

The military said that when an emergency occurred over the Thanksgiving weekend, military residents complained that their water smelled of fuel and that their family members and pets were sick. After initially dispelling concerns, the Navy later admitted that the services provided by Hongshanjing to the community had been contaminated.

Since 2014, Civil Beat has been reporting on water tank leaks, water pollution, and political debates about Red Mountain. Read our report here. Click "Full Archive" to get a complete list of stories.

State health officials announced on Friday that the gasoline and diesel range of hydrocarbons in the Navy's water supply system are 350 times higher than the state's safe drinking water standards. 

The cause of the problem is still under investigation, but the suspicious source is the Red Mountain Fuel Facility of the Navy during World War II, located on the uphill slope of the affected military community. 

The Hongshan Bulk Fuel Storage Facility consists of 20 huge pellet-shaped fuel tanks and a pipeline system that uses gravity to transport fuel to Pearl Harbor, 2.5 miles away. Each tank is taller than the Hawaiian Capitol and large enough to hold the Aloha Tower. 

It is located underground to the east of the Halawa Correctional Institution, along the western edge of the Koolau Mountains, separating the Halawa and Moanalua valleys. 

The storage tanks are arranged in two rows, 10 in each row, connected by upper and lower underground concrete tunnels and pipeline systems.

This video, produced by the Hawaiian Naval Region, shows what the inside of the facility looks like:

According to the Ministry of Health, the entire facility typically holds about 180 million gallons of fuel and is located 100 feet above the groundwater aquifer that supplies 77% of the island's total water volume. 

These tanks were hurriedly built for World War II in the early 1940s. They were built by workers who blasted holes in the volcanic rock on the mountain and then built the tanks in the holes.  

Each tank is made of thin steel linings — about a quarter of an inch thick — now corroding and is wrapped in a concrete shell, which the Navy admits is inaccessible and therefore cannot be maintained. The piping system connected to the storage tank is as old as the storage tank itself.

According to the Sierra Club, the facility has recorded at least 73 fuel leaks since 1943, totaling at least 180,000 gallons, despite the Navy’s objections.

The Navy stated that Red Mountain is an important national security asset used by the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, and Hawaii National Guard. 

Military officials stated that in view of the increasing aggression by Russia and China, the facility is still necessary for the "mission preparation" of the US Indo-Pacific Command. They also promoted Red Mountain as an important source of fuel during national emergencies or natural disasters. According to the Navy, in this case, Red Mountain can provide fuel for the airport, the Port of Honolulu, the Hawaiian Electric Company, and ships and aircraft. 

Around 2008, the Hawaii Department of Health recommended that the Navy install leak detection systems and groundwater monitoring wells to protect drinking water. According to the Ministry of Health, even at that time, oil contamination under the tank was obvious. The Halawa Shaft of the Honolulu Water Supply Authority is less than 1 mile away and provides 20% of the area’s drinking water. 

However, the facility was not subject to rigorous scrutiny before 2014, when an estimated 27,000 gallons of fuel leaked from one of the tanks. According to the Ministry of Health, after that release, the groundwater and soil monitoring system recorded peaks of diesel and oil.

The Navy attributed the disaster to the contractor's fault, but a systems analyst told KITV in 2015 that the alarm indicating the leak had been ringing for about a month but was ignored by officials. 

DOH stated earlier this year that the location of the Red Hill facility above the aquifer is inherently dangerous, and the DOH Environmental Health Administration stated in July that it does not believe that Red Hill can operate in a way that protects human health and the environment. 

At the same time, other naval hubs across the country also shut down underground fuel facilities built in the same era as Hongshan. 

According to Kitsap Daily News, Washington officials said that the Navy’s closure of the area’s fuel tanks during World War II was a victory for taxpayers, the environment, and the military. 

Hawaiian navy officials refused to do the same here. They have long stated that they can continue to use Red Mountain as a strategic military asset while protecting human health and the environment.

"We can do both," said Navy Captain Gordi Meyer, commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering System Command, at a meeting in October. "It's not a question of one or the other." 

Navy officials suspect that the water pollution crisis was caused by a leak that occurred this year: On May 6, more than 1,600 gallons of fuel spilled from a burst pipe in a tunnel tunnel in the lower part of the facility. On November 20, 14,000 gallons of water and fuel leaked from the fire extinguishing line in the tunnel between the storage tank and the Hongshan drinking water shaft. 

The Navy’s Red Mountain well is half a mile from the fuel tank and is one of the three sources of water entering the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Base System. It is now heavily contaminated by JP-5 or jet fuel, the Navy told state and local officials this week. 

The Navy announced this week that there is also diesel pollution near the second water source, the Navy’s Aiea Halawa Shaft.

The pollution affected the entire JBPHH system, which is interconnected to serve 93,000 people in communities such as the Aliamanu Military Reserve, Pearl Harbor Peninsula, Ford Island, and Iroquois. 

But the presence of this fuel-rich water in or near naval wells also means that the area’s drinking water — 400,000 people from Moanarua to Hawaii Kai — is also at risk. The Navy and the Honolulu Water Supply Commission draw water from the same aquifer. It's like drinking two straws in the same cup.

Although the aquifer is sometimes misunderstood as an underground lake, the aquifer on Oahu is made up of water trapped in the pores of lava. 

According to BWS, there is no natural barrier to prevent naval pollution from migrating through the Halawa Valley to civilian water sources. Another cause for concern is that BWS officials do not know the severity of the pollution, the exact location of the pollution, or the speed of movement. They say that the Navy is slow to share information. 

But they made mistakes in caution. The Halawa shaft of BWS has been closed since December 2. After the Navy reported diesel pollution near its Aiea Halawa shaft this week, BWS also closed two other wells.

According to BWS, the Halawa shaft is particularly vulnerable to contamination because it draws water directly from the top of the aquifer, while the oil floats on the surface. 

BWS officials stated that they believe it is not feasible to drill a deeper well there. They said that it makes more sense to drill another place far away from pollution. 

BWS said that once the aquifer is heavily contaminated, there is nothing it can do. Kawata said that once the water is extracted from the aquifer, it can be purified, but the more serious the pollution, the less feasible this option is. At some point, it becomes too costly. In addition, there is currently no water treatment facility capable of such filtration. The only treatment that BWS water undergoes is chlorination. 

Kawada provides a casserole analogy. 

"You are baking a casserole, and you want to add salt to taste," he said. "You add a little salt, it's okay. But now you accidentally poured two glasses... Your ability to save the casserole is gone." 

Since three wells are currently closed, the Water Supply Commission is relying on other wells close to Diamond Head Mountain to meet the water needs of Honolulu and other areas. Although the water is still part of the same aquifer, the well is further away from the pollution, and BWS believes that the pollution will move westward instead of towards Diamond Head. 

But BWS officials stated that these sources cannot replace closed oil wells. 

"You can maintain this state in a short period of time," said Erwin Kawata, the BWS project manager. "But not a long time, such as a few years."

Kawata said pumping these wells at higher speeds could put pressure on the aquifers. Excessive pumping may deplete a large amount of fresh water in the aquifer, so that it begins to suck in the saltier water below. 

"All of these pumping ideas are pumping at the speed of natural charging," he said. 

In wet winters, this will be easier when BWS customers use less water. But in the summer, Liu said that customers may have to reduce. BWS is currently listing their largest water users in preparation for asking them to reduce their water consumption. 

"If the demand exceeds the supply of other existing wells, we may have to demand voluntary or even compulsory protection," he said. "We ask the customer's kokua to take personal responsibility to manage your water and not waste it." 

Currently, BWS says its customers do not have to worry about buying bottled water, and it will continue to test its system for signs of problems. 

If any BWS customer finds a problem with their water, we encourage them to call BWS. Kawata stated that household water filters and reverse osmosis devices have only a "negligible" effect on fuel-contaminated water, and they should not be counted on in a pollution crisis.  

Today's water pollution crisis is a disaster that has been brewing for many years, and it has brought sufficient warnings. 

An analysis by the Navy in 2009 predicted that a fuel leak of only 16,000 gallons would poison the military's own water supply system with benzene, a known carcinogen. Just this year, nearly 16,000 gallons of fuel and fuel-containing water leaked from the Red Hill pipeline above the aquifer. The extra gallons leaked to Pearl Harbor. 

After the leak in 2014, the Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included the Navy in a performance improvement plan, requiring the Navy to upgrade its facilities to protect the aquifer by 2037, but the Navy has publicly expressed its intention to postpone the deadline.

In 2019, officials promised to either invent a secondary containment strategy-adding storage tanks to a tank solution that does not currently exist-or empty the tanks by 2045.  

Navy officials have always promised that everything will be fine.

Marc DeLao, the former commander of the Hawaii Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said in 2020: "It has a history of decades, but it is in good condition. The tank has not leaked."  

However, according to a 2018 report by a naval consultant, there is a 27.6% chance of leaking up to 30,000 gallons of fuel in any given year. This has not yet taken into account the additional risks associated with fires, floods or earthquakes. The report also predicts the release of 5,803 gallons of long-term risk per year.

But the Navy downplayed these findings, telling regulators that it disagrees with the conclusions of its consultants. 

Earlier this year, when the pipeline connected to the Red Mountain facility was found to have leaked into Pearl Harbor—just a few days before the Navy’s hearing at the Ministry of Health—officials kept this information confidential for several months. 

In an email to a colleague, a navy official stated that he did not want militant groups to use leaked information to deal with them. 

The fuel leak will undermine the Navy’s official position that the 2014 leak was an aberration and similar things will never happen again.

“People can rest assured that what happened in 2014 will not happen again in accordance with the procedures we have developed now,” Rear Admiral Robert Chadwick told Civil Beat in 2019. 

When residents began to report the smell of fuel in their drinking water, the Navy’s first reaction was to deny it. 

"I can tell you now that there is no direct sign that the water is not safe," Navy Captain Erik Spitzer said in an email to residents on November 29, just as the water began to overflow. The next day. 

"My staff and I were drinking water from the base this morning. Many of my teams also live in houses and drink and use water." 

Last Monday, Governor David Ige ordered the Navy to suspend all operations in Red Mountain, build water treatment facilities, and provide a plan to empty the water tank within 30 days. The Navy is now fighting the order to empty the tanks, and this position may lead to a protracted legal battle.

The governor’s order represents a major shift in the political wind, and many activists believe that this issue has not been taken seriously for many years.

Since 2014, the Water Supply Commission has issued an alert along with the Sierra Club of Hawaii and a small group of community members who have been calling for the closure of Red Hill. But elected officials did not participate. 

Until recently, the Hawaii Department of Health did not oversee the Navy’s fuel storage system. Although it recognizes its role in overseeing civilian underground fuel storage facilities, it specifically exempts Red Hill. The Sierra Club of Hawaii filed a lawsuit to force the Department of Health to supervise the facility. 

The case that the Sierra Club won in 2018 was why the Navy had to apply for a state permit for the first time in 2019. BWS and Sierra Club challenged the license, and the case is ongoing. But the licensing process means that the health director Libizar has the right to approve or reject the Navy's application. The Ministry of Health inspected Red Mountain for the first time last year, and this visit resulted in a fine of $325,000 for environmental violations.

Even just a few weeks ago, the Hawaiian Congressional delegation did not support the idea of ​​closing Red Mountain.

But now that fuel has hit people's taps, Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Ed Case said, "All options are on the table." 

Civil Beat is a small non-profit news editing room. We are committed to creating a free website and free subscription content because we believe that journalism is a public service. This is why donations from readers like you are critical to our continued existence. Become a Civil Beat monthly member immediately and help all readers get our news for free.

Civil Beat has been named the best comprehensive news website in Hawaii by the Hawaii Chapter of the Professional Journalists Association for 10 consecutive years.

You have officially subscribed to our daily newsletter The Morning Beat. A confirmation email will be received shortly.

At the same time, we have other newsletters you might like. Check the checkboxes of the emails you want to receive.

Overcrowded inbox? Don't worry, you can unsubscribe or update your preferences at any time.