On Tuesday the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative—or WAI—unveiled its final report, which calls for aquifer remediation and an integrated approach to resolving the water crisis.
The WAI, a working group made up of state and city leaders, was formed in May for the remediation of the Navy's Underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, which sits just 100 feet above a critical aquifer most of Oahu relies on for drinking water.
After fuel from the aging World War II-era facility contaminated the Navy's Oahu water system, which serves 93, 000 people, in November 2021—including military families and local civilian residents—the Pentagon eventually agreed to defuel and close it. The Navy had been storing 104 million gallons in massive underground tanks there, but since October the main tanks have been mostly drained.
But defueling isn't set to be finished until 2024, and the long-term remediation of the facility and the aquifer are expected to take much longer.
“It is urgent that a way forward be established to address the damages that the Red Hill fuel facility has inflicted on our aina and wai, ” said Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau, a member of the WAI working group, during a news conference Tuesday.
“Long-term oversight, transparency and accountability on this environmental crisis created by the Navy's Red Hill fuel facility must be created to ensure that these resources will be…
