More people join lawsuit against U.S. gov't over water contamination in Hawaii

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 more people have joined a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the contamination of water supply due to fuel leaks from the U.S. Navy's Red Hill fuel storage facility in Hawaii in 2021, local media reported on Thursday.

In the initial filing this past summer, there were about a dozen plaintiffs. But now, this complaint has added more than 100 new plaintiffs who said they were affected by the contaminated water, reported the Hawaii News Now, a major local news outlet in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

The lawsuit says that on top of physical pain and suffering, these plaintiffs are dealing with mental anguish, emotional distress and lost income, the report added.

The report said around 9,700 households were potentially exposed to jet fuel in their tap water after last November's tainted water crisis, citing a September survey.

Filed in Honolulu federal court, the amended lawsuit accuses the Navy of releasing thousands of gallons of jet fuel and other contaminants directly into the military and civilian families' drinking water at least twice in 2021, according to a press release from attorneys at Just Well Law, PLLC and the Hosoda Law Group, who represent more than 100 injured U.S. military family members and civilians.

The new complaint also accuses the Navy of destroying more than 1,000 water samples collected from the homes of the affected families, the news release noted.

"While these families suffer," the lawsuit alleges, "Navy officials continue to claim that families are not sick from their exposure to jet fuel, with medical gaslighting at the highest levels. Up to now, military officials have denied ongoing medical harm to service members, their families, or civilians," according to the news release.

The first four injured families filed a federal lawsuit against the Navy in August.

The Hawaii State Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR) conducted a follow-up survey in September to learn more about the experience of people affected by the contamination. The health impact survey published earlier this week showed that 80 percent of respondents reported health symptoms in the previous 30 days and 65 percent of respondents expressed high or very high confidence that the symptoms were related to the water contamination incident.

Many participants reported worse health after the incident. Around 55 percent reported worse physical health and 50 percent reported worse mental health after the incident when compared to before, according to the follow-up survey results.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced in March that it would defuel and permanently close the enormous fuel storage facility over the water contamination crisis.

Located near the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Base, the facility includes 20 massive 250-foot underground steel tanks encased in concrete, each holding more than 12 million gallons of jet and other fuel. It is situated just 30 meters above Hawaii's main aquifer that supplies fresh water to most of Honolulu and much of Oahu County.

The public outrage and dismay has rapidly spread from community activists in the native-Hawaiian community to the public at large, and all the way up to Hawaii's state and federal leadership.

The Navy is required by the Hawaii State Department of Health to provide monthly reports on contaminant testing and stream inspections.

The Red Hill facility is in the process of being defueled and closed. That is expected to take years, reported the Hawaii News Now, adding that based on the current timeline, the Navy is hoping to finish defueling by 2024 and close the facility by 2027.