HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Honolulu Board of Supply of water authorities desire responses about hazardous chemicals found in groundwater at Red Hill a year prior to last month’s spill of firefighting foam.
The chemicals were likewise discovered in drinking water at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in 2020 and 2021.
As initially reported by Hawaii News Now, the EPA and state Health Department stated in a letter last month to the Navy that PFAS– referred to as permanently chemicals– were found in groundwater samples on Dec. 20 and 27, 2021.
That was one month after fuel spills polluted the Pearl Harbor drinking water supply, sickening countless individuals. And it was a year prior to 1,300 gallons of firefighting foam including PFAS was spilled at Red Hill.
EPA, DOH letter exposes ‘permanently chemicals’ were found in groundwater near Red Hill in 2015
Households require openness, responses after Red Hill groundwater samples discover ‘permanently chemicals’
” It appears to show there is more favorable tests for PFAS in the Navy’s drinking water source at Red Hill shaft returning to December of 2021,” stated Ernie Lau, Board of Supply of water supervisor and primary supervisor.
He states Navy water quality reports for the Pearl Harbor base revealed low detections in the drinking water.
” In the years 2021 and 2020, there were likewise detections of PFAS in their drinking water supply. Among them was recognized as originating from their Aiea-Halawa shaft,” stated Lau.
” So it appears like the existence of PFAS was not distinct to in 2015’s occasion,” he included.
UNIQUE AREA: Navy Water Crisis
In the letter, the EPA and Health Department stated the groundwater detections were “at low parts per trillion concentrations that are listed below Hawaii State Environmental Action Levels however above EPA’s interim health advisory levels.” Permanently chemicals have actually been connected to an increased danger of cancer, even at low levels.
Regulators stated more tracking and screening are required.
” As we understand, PFAS is a moving target in concerns to where we are on the health advisory level, which we reduced about a thousand-fold in June,” stated Corine Li, supervisor of the EPA’s Drinking Water Workplace.
” It’s a considerable shift in regards to what’s being found and reported,” she included.
Army Maj. Amanda Feindt, a previous Pearl Harbor citizen who was sickened after in 2015’s fuel spills at Red Hill, stated at a public conference Monday that she was horrified at the current tracking outcomes.
” I wish to state for the record that I do dislike you, DOH or EPA utilizing my kids as your test dummies or your guinea pigs,” she stated.
Hawaii News Now connected to the Navy for a reaction and is still waiting to hear back.
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