Jet fuel in our Water: Unpacking the Red Hill Crisis

Understanding the Challenge

The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility sits 100 feet above O‘ahu’s sole-source groundwater aquifer, which supplies 77% of the island’s drinking water.  It consists of 20 underground steel tanks encased in concrete and constructed in the early 1940s in cavities mined in Red Hill under 100 feet of rock. Each tank is 100 feet in diameter and 250 feet tall, with a capacity of 12.5 million gallons.  The facility can hold a maximum of 250 million gallons of fuel for ships and aircraft operating in the Pacific region.

In November 2021, teachers at Red Hill Elementary School reported a chemical smell from their faucets. Residents in military housing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam complained of the smell of fuel from their drinking water. The Red Hill water crisis on O'ahu stemmed from fuel leaks in the U.S. Navy's Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a World War II-era complex. These leaks, particularly in early 2020 and 2021, severely contaminated the island's primary drinking water aquifer, impacting hundreds of thousands of residents and military families. Taking immediate and decisive action was crucial due to the direct threat to public health and safety, the vital importance of O'ahu's sole-source aquifer, and the urgent need to hold the Navy accountable for cleaning and safeguarding Hawai‘i's essential natural resources.