Lava tube raises fears about Red Hill fuel contamination

TL;DR - State regulators and local water officials say they are just now learning of the existence of a lava tube that cuts across the water tunnel that flows into the Navy’s Red Hill drinking water well. The existence of the lava tube has raised alarm that the petroleum that leaked from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility in 2021 may have quickly traveled to an unknown area of the aquifer.

“It is shocking, really, that the Navy knew about this and didn’t share this critical information about the Red Hill shaft, especially given how much risk depends on preferential pathways in the subsurface,” said Fenix Grange, who manages DOH’s Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office, in an email.

July 2, 2022: Lava tube raises fears about Red Hill fuel contamination, Honolulu Star-AdvertiserTL;