Contaminated Pearl Harbor Waters Makes Military Families Sick

The first clue that something was wrong with Cheri Burness's tap water came from her dog. He hasn't had any for two weeks. Burness then began to get stomach discomfort. Her 12-year-old daughter felt sick to her stomach.

So far, 680 houses in navy housing and 270 in army housing on the navy's water system have reported a gasoline odor or medical complaints. The Department of Defense has begun distributing bottled water and stated that Marines would set up bathing and laundry facilities with clean water.

The army has stated that it will assist impacted families in relocating to hotels or new residences, and the navy is working on a similar scheme. The navy is also establishing medical facilities.

Burness said she started reading comments on social media from military families complaining that their tap water smelled like gasoline after her kid became ill.

She warned her family not to drink it or use it to wash their hair or face. She paid $120 each month for a private water supply. The family has largely been dining out and using plastic and paper plates.

Burness reported her stomach symptoms had improved by around 85% but were still there. The sickness in her daughter has subsided. Both, however, are now experiencing respiratory difficulties.

"Lack" of Respond

Burness expressed her dissatisfaction with the navy's reaction, which she says dismisses the concerns of families. She cited a Monday email from the commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. He stated that the military evaluated water samples but had no direct evidence that the water was unsafe. According to his email, he and his team were drinking the water.

"All they had to say was, 'We understand that there's a problem, we don't know what it is, and we're going to do whatever it takes to figure it out and repair it.' 'Nope,' we were told instead. It appears to be in good condition. It has a pleasant odor. Burness said, 'Bye.'

According to Navy Region Hawaii, the commander's email was issued when "numbers of concerns were still relatively low," which supervises all Navy sites in the state.

"Since then, the navy has aggressively boosted sampling, testing, and communication to affected families and others, as well as created reaction teams of professionals to address the difficulties we're all experiencing," the command said in a statement.

The latest incident involving the Red Hill Gasoline Storage Facility, a network of 20 underground fuel tanks erected during WWII, occurred on November 22.

Since the military revealed in 2014 that one of the old tanks had spilled 27,000 gallons (102 kiloliters), environmentalists and Honolulu's municipal water utility have voiced concerns about the aging tanks.

The tanks are located 100 feet (30 meters) above an aquifer that supplies nearly a quarter of Honolulu's water, raising worries that leaks might pollute one of the city's most important water sources. This is the same aquifer that the Red Hill well tapped and where the navy just discovered petroleum.

The Sierra Club of Hawaii and other environmental organizations called on the government to shut down the tanks last month.

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