HONOLULU — Navy officials “lacked sufficient understanding” of the risks of maintaining massive fuel storage tanks above a drinking water well at Pearl Harbor where the spill occurred. Poisoned Jet Fuel more than 6,000 people in 2021, a U.S. military watchdog said Thursday.

This lack of awareness occurred even though officials had technical drawings and environmental studies describing the risks, the U.S. Department of Defense inspector general said.

The finding is part of a long list of Navy failures identified by the inspector general in two reports following a years-long investigation into fuel leak at the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility. Investigators said it was imperative for the Navy to address the management of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam’s fuel and water systems and recommended that the military evaluate leak detection systems in other Navy fuel installations.

“DoD must take this and other actions to ensure that tragedies like the one in November 2021 do not happen again,” Inspector General Robert P. Storch said in a statement.

The Army built the Red Hill fuel tanks into the mountainside in the early 1940s to protect them from air attack. There were 20 tanks in all, each about the height of a 25-story building and capable of holding 12.5 million gallons (47.3 million liters). The site was located in the hills above Pearl Harbor and atop an aquifer equipped with wells that provided drinking water to the Navy and Honolulu’s municipal water system.

Fuel leaks at Red Hill have occurred before, including in 2014, prompting the Sierra Club of Hawaii and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply to ask the soldiers to move the reservoirs to a location where they would not threaten Oahu’s water. But the navy refused, saying the island’s waters were safe.

The 2021 spill gushed from a ruptured pipe in May of that year. Most of it flowed into a fire drainage system, where it remained unnoticed for six months until a cart pushed through a sagging line holding the liquid. Crews thought they had cleaned up most of that fuel, but they failed to get about 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters). Around Thanksgiving, the fuel flowed into a disposal and drinking water well that supplied water to 90,000 people at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The inspector general’s report says 4,000 families had to leave their homes for months because they couldn’t drink or bathe in their water. The military spent more than $220 million to house residents in hotels and respond to the spill. Congress allocated an additional $2.1 billion, part of which to help the Navy close Red Hill facility in accordance with a order from Hawaii regulators.

Among the inspector general’s other findings:

Hawaii’s congressional delegation, which called for an investigation in 2021, issued a joint statement saying the reports clearly showed the Navy and Army failed to manage fuel operations and water at Red Hill and Pearl Harbor to a standard that protects human health and safety. the inhabitants of Hawaii.

“This is outrageous and unacceptable,” US Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz and US Representatives Ed Case and Jill Tokuda, all Democrats, said in a statement.

They called on the Navy to take “full responsibility” for its failures and immediately implement the inspector general’s recommendations.

A Navy spokesperson said in a statement that the inspector general’s findings were consistent with previous assessments and supported the corrective actions the Navy implemented.

“We are committed to constant improvement to ensure the highest standards of operations, maintenance, safety and monitoring at all of our facilities at all times,” the statement said.

The Navy last year issued written reprimands to three retired military officers for their role in the oil spill, a move the Sierra Club called a “slap on the wrist.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he welcomed the inspector general’s findings, which he said underscored what environmental advocates have long argued.

“We will continue to insist on transparency and accountability regarding the Red Hill issue because all Hawaii residents deserve pure, clean drinking water,” Green said in a statement.

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