Drinking Water System Compliance at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

    

Administrator Michael Regan and Regional Administrator Martha Guzman Discuss EPA’s Response to the Drinking Water Emergency.

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Background

Most drinking water in Oʻahu is provided to consumers by public water providers. As directed by the Safe Drinking Water Act, drinking water is tested at least annually by water providers for a wide variety of contaminants.

More information on drinking water safety and testing can be found on the Hawai'i Department of Health’s Safe Drinking Water Branch website.

Citizens connected to municipal water supplies in the area around Red Hill receive their drinking water from either the Honolulu Board of Water Supply or the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Water System (JBPHHWS). All drinking water supplies in the vicinity of Red Hill continue to meet all federal drinking water standards.

Annual Water Quality Reports can be found at the Honolulu Board of Water Supply website or the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Water Quality Information site.

November 2021 Drinking Water Incident

Groundwater Testing Results

Screen capture of Red Hill Groundwater Testing Application

EPA is pleased to present an application developed to provide you with a simple way to view up-to date information about groundwater quality around the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaiʻi. Learn more at the Groundwater Results Application.

In late November 2021, hundreds of families, living on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) and the Army's Aliamanu Military Reservation and Red Hill Housing, reported petroleum odors coming from residential tap water supplied by the U.S. Navy water system. Residents reported health issues arising from the contaminated drinking water.

Approximately 93,000 U.S. Navy water system users were impacted, many of whom relocated to temporary housing during the drinking water crisis.

The source of the petroleum was the nearby Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, which contaminated the Red Hill Shaft, one of the Navy's groundwater sources for the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam drinking water system.

EPA coordinated with the Navy, Army and the Hawai’i Department of Health (DOH) by forming an Interagency Drinking Water System Team (IDWST) to restore safe drinking water to the affected residents and workers. The team, which launched in December 2021, completed drinking water restoration in March 2022.

Over the next two years, the Navy was required to continue testing the affected drinking water area and continue work to cleanup the Red Hill drinking water well and impacted soil and groundwater.

April 2022 Investigation

During the week of April 4, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) conducted public water system inspections at the U.S. Navy’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) and the U.S. Army’s Aliamanu Military Reservation (AMR) to determine compliance with the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its implementing regulations.

EPA provided its inspection reports to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army on May 27, 2022. The reports found that both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army have failed to adequately operate and maintain their public water systems serving JBPHH and AMR. In response, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army have taken steps to address EPA’s concerns and have submitted documentation of their compliance activities, including photographic documentation and plans for implementation of structural controls to prevent animals from nesting inside the JBPHH’s finished water storage tanks and to remove excessive vegetation from around the tanks. In addition, both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army have submitted plans they will take to address EPA’s findings.

2023 and 2024 Investigations

Starting in late 2023, EPA, the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH), and Navy received an increased number of complaints being reported by residents served by the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam public water system. On October 19, 2023, EPA conducted a complaint investigation and published its findings on December 18, 2023. The report investigates complaints received by EPA and subsequent follow-up from the Navy. The report also articulates areas of concern and recommendations for corrective action by the Navy.

On February 2, 2024, the EPA sent a letter to Navy providing the expectation that the Navy renew their Drinking Water Long-Term Monitoring Plan (LTMP) beyond the current February 2024 expiration date.

In February 2024, EPA was notified of twenty-eight complaints with actionable contact information from residents served by the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam public water system (JBPHH System) and the Aliamanu Military Reservation public water system (AMR System). EPA conducted an investigation from February 14-16, 2024 and published their findings and recommendations on Mach 21, 2024.

EPA is working with the Navy and DOH to develop a LTMP that will be more responsive to complaints by water system users and identify the root cause of these complaints.

June 2024 Inspections

During the week of June 3, 2024, EPA conducted public water system inspections at the U.S. Navy’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) and the U.S. Army’s Aliamanu Military Reservation (AMR) to determine compliance with the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its implementing regulations. During the inspections, EPA made management, operations, and maintenance observations which are expected to be addressed by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.

As part of the inspection, EPA also conducted source-water sampling for PFAS at JBPHH’s active drinking water well (the Waiawa Shaft) and two inactive wells (Red Hill Shaft and Aiea-Halawa Shaft). Additionally, EPA sampled for PFAS at AMR’s drinking water distribution system, which receives its drinking water supply from the JBPHH system.

Furthermore, EPA collected drinking water samples for a subset of analytes listed in Navy’s Extended Drinking Water Monitoring Plan from drinking water wells, and various homes and priority buildings in the JBPHH and AMR distribution systems. All EPA sampling results may be found in the inspection reports.

Safe Drinking Water Act Inspection Reports

Below are links to the SDWA inspection reports for both JBPHH and AMR public water systems. EPA has withheld release of some information in the JBPHH and AMR inspection reports that contain personally identifiable information and/or defense critical infrastructure security information.

Other Documents

News Releases

Additional Resources

For the latest updates, news releases, and resources for residents, please visit the U.S. Navy's Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) Water Updates website.

View the latest post system flushing status and drinking water sampling data at the Interagency Drinking Water System Team (IDWST) Flushing and Sampling Data website.

For additional information please visit the U.S. Army and Hawai'i Department of Health websites.

Red Hill

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Last updated on November 4, 2024