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News|Water

US Navy oil tanks dirty Hawaii’s water

A tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor
This photo shows a tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on January 26, 2018. The state of Hawaii says a laboratory has detected petroleum product in a water sample from an elementary school near Pearl Harbor, raising concerns that fuel from the massive Navy storage facility may contaminate Oahu's water supply [US Navy via AP]
Published On 21 Jan 2022

Last November, residents of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam military housing started to smell fuel coming out of their pipes. The US Navy said a leak from a fuel storage facility called Red Hill contaminated their well in O’ahu, leaving approximately 93,000 residents without drinking water.

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But this is something activists have been fearing for years. The fuel storage facility sits above the island’s aquifer. If a significant leak happens, the consequences could change life as we know it in places like Honolulu and Waikiki. So, what is the Navy doing to clean the water, and what is at risk for the more than 900,000 people living on the island?

In this episode: 

  • Scott Kim, News Editor at Hawaii Public Radio (@wearehpr)
  • Wayne Tanaka, Sierra Club Chapter Director (@sierraclubhi)

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Source: Al Jazeera