HONOLULU (KHON2) – The Hawaii Department of Health held a Fuel Tank Advisory Committee meeting on Friday, May 13 over Zoom.
It was also available to the public if they wanted to go to the Hawaii State Capitol auditorium.
The DOH shared maps that showed the areas where the contaminated water moved toward the west across Halawa Valley.
“That data as mapped certainly indicates that especially monitoring well 12 right outside of the Navy property is essentially our sentinel well now,” said Fenix Grange, DOH. “It has shown the effects that you are saying just re-emphasizes that need for sentinel wells beyond that.”
Sentinel wells are groundwater monitoring wells that are meant to provide advanced warning of the movement of groundwater contamination toward the drinking water supply wells.
The Board of Water Supply said it’s put out to bid for a new sentinel well outside of the Navy property in Halawa Valley.
BWS also asked the Navy for an update on its de-fueling process.
“I don’t expect them to be measured in multiple or several years for each of those steps, but I can’t commit to a timeline now,” said Capt. James Meyer of the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps.
“Every moment that facility contains fuel right over our aquifer is a moment too long for me because it’s a threat to further damage to our resource,” said BWS Chief Engineer Ernie Lau.
The U.S. Navy waived its right to a contested case hearing on May 9 on the state’s order to close the Red Hill Fuel Facility.
The DOH said the Navy must provide an independent contractor’s assessment on facility operations by Sunday, May 15.
A plan and schedule to de-fuel is due by June 30.
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A plan for closure of the facility is due by Nov. 1.
