Students, staff at schools affected by Red Hill fuel leak remain wary of tap water

TL;DR - The caution tape finally has been stripped off nearly all the sink faucets and drinking fountains at Red Hill Elementary School, now that the fuel contamination warnings have been lifted. Yet the teachers and children are still afraid to use the water for anything but hand-washing.

“Those are working,” Principal Komarey Moss says, gesturing toward a couple of student drinking fountains outside a classroom, “but no one uses them yet.”

Four miles away at Holy Family Catholic Academy, every time Principal Celeste Akiu washes her hands, she still does the sniff test and looks for any telltale oily sheen on the water’s surface that would suggest the presence of poisonous petroleum.

April 11, 2022: Students, staff at schools affected by Red Hill fuel leak remain wary of tap water, Honolulu Civil Beat