Lau has urged the Navy to install better safeguards to protect the water supply system or move the tanks, but has often been shut out of discussions between the Navy and federal and state environmental regulators. The tanks sit just 100 feet above the aquifer.

The Board of Water Supply has worried that the Navy’s Red Hill Underground Fuel Facility could contaminate the aquifer below ever since 2014 when the Navy announced that 27,000 gallons of fuel had leaked from one of its massive underground fuel tanks. “It’s critically important that everybody use only what they actually need,” said Lau. Lau said that he didn’t know how long the Board of Water Supply could keep the Halawa well off-line, but in the meantime, he’s urging residents to conserve water. Waihee and Abercrombie call for closure of Red Hill fuel facilityīut the Navy’s findings suggest that there is significant fuel contamination in the aquifer and Board of Water Supply officials worry those petroleum products could migrate across Halawa Valley to their own well, which supplies about 20% of the water for urban Oahu, from Moanalua to Hawaii Kai. > Rally calls for shutdown of Red Hill facility > Army task force helping Hawaii families affected by tainted water supply

> Hawaii officials say Red Hill, Aliamanu school water samples damaged in transit > Navy secretary’s plan to visit Oahu raises hopes for Red Hill drinking water solution “I wanted to reassure our customers that their drinking water is safe,” said Lau. Lau stressed that there is no indication that the water supplied by the Board of Water Supply, which serves the majority of residents and businesses on Oahu, is contaminated. “Basically, we take water from the same glass of water,” said Ernie Lau, manager and chief engineer of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, during a press conference Friday.

But the wells both pull water from the same aquifer. The water systems maintained by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and Navy are separate.

The precautionary measure was taken after the Navy announced last night that it had determined the source of contamination within its water system was coming from petroleum in its Red Hill shaft. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply has shut down its Halawa well to protect southern Oahu’s drinking water from potentially being contaminated with petroleum.

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