Navy to drain polluted water after fuel contamination in Hawaii

State of play: The Navy will pump up to 5 million gallons of water a day from the Red Hill Shaft into the Halawa Stream in order to get rid of the contaminated tap water. The discharge was authorized under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permit.

• The Red Hill facility was shut down on Nov. 28 following complaints by military families who experienced cramps, rashes, vomiting and more from the water.
• Nearly 1 million people on Oahu rely on Red Hill for water.

What they're saying: “There is an urgency to remove contamination from the Navy’s Red Hill Shaft,” said Kathleen Ho, deputy director of Environmental Health, in a statement.

• “DOH is authorizing the Navy to begin pumping and treating water from the Red Hill Shaft to prevent contamination from spreading throughout the aquifer," she said in a statement.