In a statement, DOH spokeswoman Kaitlin Arita-Chang said there are a limited number of certified labs throughout the country that can perform total petroleum hydrocarbon testing for diesel, oil and gas to the detection level of parts per billion. The preliminary test was unable to produce specific enough results, according to DOH.
However, the amount and type of petroleum were not clear. The Hawaii Department of Health announced on Wednesday that a University of Hawaii lab had detected a petroleum product in a water sample from Red Hill Elementary School. Military officials are now considering starting up a lab, but getting it certified would take time and wouldn’t shed light on the current problem, Converse said. Blake Converse has been hosting town hall meetings with concerned residents. “What’s the alternative? The alternative is class-action lawsuits filed by all those people getting affected by the tainted water and jeopardizing the entire drinking system for this entire island.” Rear Adm. “Considering the frequency of these spills, you would think that it would warrant having a specialized lab to look at and study the water,” he said. Glenn Wakai called that response “ridiculous.” Pacific Fleet, said during a virtual town hall on Thursday that a local lab with those capabilities has not been a “cost-effective” option given the infrequent need for such a facility. Blake Converse, deputy commander of the U.S. James Meyer acknowledged at a town hall on Sunday that the military’s local testing can only detect parts per million, not the parts per billion that are necessary to detect whether water is safe for consumption. Navy brass are now investigating that leak and its possible connection to an earlier leak in May, when 1,600 gallons of fuel burst from a pipe in the facility’s lower access tunnel.Īnd earlier this year, the state Department of Health’s Environmental Health Division determined Red Hill has not shown that it can operate in a way that is “protective of human health and the environment.” Separately, DOH fined the facility over $325,000 for violations discovered last year.ĭespite the documented issues, neither state, local nor federal entities have invested in an on-island lab that would quickly notify them of contamination before they deliver water to thousands of residents. That includes a leak of 14,000 gallons of fuel and water a quarter-mile from the Red Hill water shaft just days before people reported feeling ill in late November. The facility has experienced numerous other problems throughout the years. That event sparked community outrage and increased regulatory oversight but not the creation of a lab. The warning signs were there in 2014, Kim said, when 27,000 gallons of fuel were released from a tank at the Red Hill fuel facility. “They have so many people on the water system, and they cannot test the water on a timely basis?” she said. Donna Mercado Kim said it’s unacceptable that there isn’t a local lab capable of detailed fuel contamination tests. Donna Mercado Kim said at a press conference last week. The community’s inability to get immediate answers about water that community members said was sickening them is “absurd,” state Sen. 29 were damaged in transit to California and couldn’t be tested. Water samples had to be sent to the mainland, officials said.Īdding insult to injury, the Hawaii Department of Health announced on Friday that four of its six water samples collected on Nov.
The void of such a capability was felt last week when 93,000 Navy water customers – including military families and civilians – had to wait five days for the Navy to confirm that there was petroleum in the Red Hill well from which they get their water. The threat of the Navy’s fuel operations contaminating Oahu’s drinking water has been known for years, but in that time no local, state or federal agency has established a lab that could quickly and precisely detect petroleum constituents in water samples.