U.S. Navy promises to fix the Hawaii water contamination crisis

House lawmakers on Tuesday criticized the Navy for its initial response to the fuel leak in Hawaii that has contaminated the tap water for thousands of families. 

"The Navy caused this problem, we own it, and we are going to fix it,"  Rear Admiral Brendan Converse, deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in his opening statement at a virtual hearing in front of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. 

The Navy started receiving reports of discolored water that smelled like diesel fuel and of families with symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, headaches, and eye and skin irritation. A fuel leak from the Navy's Red Hill underground fuel storage facility is suspected to have spread to a water well serving thousands.