{"id":70638,"date":"2022-03-17T21:47:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T21:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/03\/17\/long-term-health-effects-of-hawaiis-fuel-tainted-water-are-unclear-cdc-and-navy-say\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:53:02","slug":"long-term-health-effects-of-hawaiis-fuel-tainted-water-are-unclear-cdc-and-navy-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2022\/03\/17\/long-term-health-effects-of-hawaiis-fuel-tainted-water-are-unclear-cdc-and-navy-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-term health effects of Hawaii\u2019s fuel-tainted water are unclear, CDC and Navy say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Military medical officials have formed a joint working group to address the immediate health issues<\/a> of service members and families affected by the fuel-tainted water in Hawaii, but little is known about what the long-term health effects could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also not clear how the newly established Defense Department incident registry will track families into the future. All residents and assigned personnel on the affected water system are being automatically enrolled in the registry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking all the complaints that have manifested seriously,\u201d said Navy Capt. Michael McGinnis, the U.S. Pacific Fleet surgeon and senior medical adviser, during a live Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Facebook update March 10. Some 9,715 households were affected by the fuel spill that entered the Navy\u2019s water distribution system. Families<\/a> were authorized to move to hotels at government expense in early December, and many of them have been living in hotels for more than three months. Families who chose to stay in their homes have been provided with potable water, shower facilities, laundry facilities and other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those include Army and Air Force neighborhoods, as well as the Navy neighborhoods. There were 19 zones affected and an interagency team has been coordinating the flushing of contaminants in the water system and testing of the water. As of March 15, all but four zones had been cleared for safe drinking water by the Hawaii Department of Health. Of those 9,715 homes on the Navy water system, 90% \u2014 or 8,765 \u2014 have been cleared for safe water and residents have moved back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some families have reported persistent smells or sheens in the water after returning to their homes. One resident said she still saw a sheen in her water after running the taps for three days to clear any stagnant water. Officials have a rapid response team to address the issues, and will come to the home to assess the situation and conduct testing. As of March 15, the team had received 155 calls from residents and conducted 112 tests, with no detections of the JP-5 kerosene-based jet fuel in the water, according to a Facebook update March 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about long-term health effects?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

McGinnis acknowledged that questions have been raised by service members and families about the long-term effects of this exposure to the fuel in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBased on what we know, as far as the duration and the intensity of exposure from this event, we do not anticipate long-term health concerns,\u201d McGinnis said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t know definitively, and that\u2019s why we want to monitor over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The health effects of JP-5, JP-8 and Jet A fuels depend on how much of these fuels you are exposed to and for how long, CDC officials told Military Times. \u201cUnfortunately, we know very little about the human health effects caused by\u201d these fuels, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a public health statement about these fuels on the CDC website, there are no reliable studies of cancer in humans exposed to these fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exposure to those fuels mainly occurs in occupational settings where children aren\u2019t likely to be exposed, according to that CDC public health statement, and no studies on the health effects of exposure to these fuels in children were found.<\/p>\n\n\n\t