Hawaii health department issues emergency order after petroleum products found in Navy water system

The Hawaii Department of Health issued an emergency order on Tuesday, calling on the Navy to take further action to remedy its water system after tests detected petroleum products in one of its wells. The order comes a day after Navy officials at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam announced they would suspend operations at a major fuel tank farm located near the contaminated water well.

"The Navy's contamination of drinking water has impacted all O'ahu residents—military and civilian—and we must take appropriate steps to safeguard the drinking water we all share as a community," Hawaii's health director Dr. Elizabeth Char said in a statement Tuesday. 

Along with the immediate suspension of operations at Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility — which is located 100 feet above an aquifer that supplies water for the Navy's water system — the emergency order calls on the Navy to take immediate steps to install water treatment systems at the site's shaft. The state's health department also ordered the Navy to submit a work plan as well as an implementation schedule to safely remove the fuel from Red Hill's storage tanks and assess its operations within 30 days.