In 2021, military families in Hawaii learned that thousands of gallons of jet fuel had contaminated the drinking water as a result from a spill at the WWII-era Red Hill fuel storage facility near Pearl Harbor and surrounding installations. The 2021 water crisis sparked an immediate – and ongoing – investigation from both military leadership and the families who have been affected.
One group, the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, recently hired Elin Betanzo, a drinking water expert who helped uncover the lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, to look at the data following the U.S. Navy’s fuel spills.
Betanzo told Hawaii News Now that the Navy’s Safe Waters website showed more than 6,000 detections of lead in drinking water samples between 2022 and July 2024.
“Lead in drinking water can be caused by old faucets or pipes that need to be replaced. As of Feb. 1, 2024, all exceedances of lead found in the JBPHH water system have been cleared by updating fixtures and flushing water through the building,” the Navy’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Safe Waters website states.
But Betanzo has concerns. She found there were 26 samples that exceeded health action levels, including four local schools military children attend: Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary, Montessori Center of Pearl Harbor, Moanalua Pre-School, and Pearl Harbor Elementary.
“There’s no reason for anybody to be drinking lead in their water,” Bentanzo, who is also the president of Safe Water Engineering, told the outlet. “EPA says the safe level for lead is zero.”
Because lead is an invisible contaminant, it cannot be seen or tasted.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), even small amounts of lead can be harmful, especially for kids, and can lead to behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, lower IQ, anemia, and hyperactivity.
“Lead is particularly dangerous to children because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults do and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead,” the EPA website states.
“I’m concerned for the residents … Everybody needs safe drinking water,” Betanzo told Hawaii News Now. “We haven’t regulated lead out of jet fuel yet, so that could potentially explain some of what’s happening here.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the best way to reduce lead in your drinking water is to use an approved filter. Learn more about recommended water filters in their guide, here: