The U.S. Navy has accidentally poisoned Hawaii’s aquifer with jet fuel, which has forced the natives to use unsanitary water.

Inside the mountain ridge overlooking Pearl Harbor, there is a huge facility where the United States Government stores fuel. This has provided fuel to military ships and planes that cross the Pacific Ocean, and for many years, was a complete secret. When this secret was uncovered, many people did not pay much attention to the installation inside this mountain ridge because from what they knew, it did not cause any issues.

However, late last year in 2021, jet fuel leaked into one of Hawaii’s drinking water wells, and ended up contaminating several individuals, especially people who are living in military housing there. Many people started to have symptoms such as nausea, headaches, skin rashes, etc. Luckily, the Navy recognized the problem and has started to find ways to combat the issues that have arisen since the incident. They sent over 4,000 families to hotels in Honolulu, paid for by the Navy, so that they could have clean water to use while the U.S. government came up with a solution.

This issue has been going on since last November and is still a problem now, as families remain unable to return to their homes with clean and safe water. For a while now, the Navy has been trying to clear the petroleum from the well that was contaminated and pump it out of the aquifer. They have also gone to separate houses to flush individual piping systems.

The water sources that are contaminated make up around 20% of the water sources that are used in Honolulu. Several children and military veterans are being affected by the polluted water, and some families are still recovering. Some families say that their children started to develop symptoms last year around Thanksgiving, and none of the military health doctors could tell them what was going on. It wasn’t until around December that most people found out about the contaminated water.

The Navy blames contractor error for the accidental poisoning and many people believe that because the infrastructure is so old, it needs to be filled with dirt and shut down entirely.