Navy investigation finds Hawaii water crisis exacerbated by "unacceptable failure of on-scene leadership"

Navy officials' lack of on-scene leadership in the days following a fuel storage facility leak led to the contamination of thousands of Hawaii residents' drinking water last year, a pair of newly released investigations found. 

The response fell "unacceptably short of the Navy standards for leadership, ownership, and the safeguarding of our communities," Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William Lescher wrote in an endorsement of the investigation. 

The Red Hill underground storage facility in Oahu leaked nearly 20,000 gallons of jet fuel in November 2021. The leak impacted over 90,000 residents' drinking water and forced thousands of families to evacuate their homes for weeks during the holidays.