The Navy’s Red Hill facility is facing yet another contamination issue just one year after a fuel spill prompted the shuttering of multiple drinking water sources indefinitely that many communities in Honolulu and those living on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickum rely on. The military reported on Tuesday that around 1,100 gallons of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) was released at around 1p.m. The location is a mile from the Red Hill shaft itself and the Navy believes that there will be no impact on drinking water.
“Given the size of the release and the distance from the nearest active water well, our initial assessment is that it is unlikely to affect the drinking water or the aquifer,” The Navy said in a statement obtained by Hawaii News Now. “The nearest well is the Red Hill shaft, approximately one mile away. The Red Hill shaft has been closed for the past year and is not supplying drinking water to the Navy water distribution system.” What has been impacted is surrounding soil.
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Environmental groups like the Sierra Club of Hawaii are understandably skeptical of the Navy’s containment claims and outraged. “They knew this facility is just 100 feet above our aquifer,” Sierra Club of Hawaii Director Wayne Tanaka told Hawaii News Now. “They know rain, water constantly infiltrates and passes through this red hill facility into the ground and eventually into the groundwater”
The Navy and Health Department are excavating contaminated dirt, though it will be nearly impossible to get that soil free of contaminants. Firefighting foam like AFFF contains what’s known as “forever chemicals,” or PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances). “Any spill or release of PFAS into the environment is a significant concern because of the ability of these chemicals to harm health at very low concentrations,” David Andrews, Ph.D, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, explained. “Cleanup and ongoing testing should occur to ensure no impact on drinking water sources. The sooner PFAS use in firefighting foam ends, the better.”
There is momentum building to end the use of PFAS in firefighting foam. Earlier this year, the PFAS Firefighter Protection Act was introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. If signed into law, it would bar “the manufacture, import, processing, or distribution in commerce of any [AFFF] for use in training and firefighting that contains [PFAS].”