- Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and wife of a US Navy officer stationed in Honolulu, is one of 17 people suing the US government.
- The lawsuit stems from health problems, including vomiting and rashes, allegedly linked to the jet fuel leak in 2021.
- The government has acknowledged responsibility but disputed the extent of the exposure and the resulting health problems.
Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and wife of a U.S. Navy officer, thinks about water often.
family, posted in honolulu, spends more than $120 per month on jugs of bottled water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, as well as showerheads and sink filters. Each night, the children, ages 13 and 5, take cups of bottled water upstairs to their bathrooms to brush their teeth.
“I hope that one day I won’t be able to think about water all the time,” Dietz said. “But right now it’s stable.”
The vigilance is to avoid more vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and other illnesses, as they said they began experiencing in 2021, when jets into the Navy’s water system serving 93,000 people at and around the Pearl Harbor base Fuel leaked. Dietz says it sickened thousands of people living in military housing, including his own family.
Richelle Dietz holds an empty five-gallon water bottle at her home at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on April 22, 2024 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Dietz family relies on bi-weekly water deliveries for basic needs as their water became contaminated in 2021. (AP Photo/Mengxin Lin)
He is one of the 17 relatives of U.S. military Members sued the United States over leaks from World War II-era storage tanks. He said his entire family – including dog Rocket – is suffering from health problems linked to the contaminated water. Her husband, a chief petty officer, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press because he feared retribution from the Navy.
The 17 are considered “bellwether” plaintiffs in three federal lawsuits representing more than 7,500 other military family members, civilians and service members. The outcome of his trial, which begins on Monday, will help determine the success of other cases and damages awarded.
Christina Behr, one of his lawyers, said she already considers it a success because the US government has accepted liability.
U.S. Justice Department lawyers wrote in court documents that the government believes that the November 20, 2021 leak at the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility “created a nuisance” to the plaintiffs, that the United States “abdicated its duty of care.” Violated” and that the plaintiffs suffered compensable injuries.
But they dispute that the plaintiffs were exposed to jet fuel at such high levels that it caused their alleged health problems. The plaintiff says the long-term problems he suffers from include seizures, memory loss, anxiety, eczema and asthma.
When the Dietz family arrived in Hawaii in February 2021, “we thought we were headed to heaven on Earth,” Dietz wrote in a declaration filed in the case.
But around Thanksgiving — shortly after the leak — they couldn’t figure out his stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Other families in the neighborhood were also ill. Then he got rashes.
“My throat is burning. I feel like I just drank gasoline,” Dietz remembers telling her husband on November 27.
The next night, her Facebook timeline was filled with neighbors complaining about the smell of fuel in their water. Dietz ran to his tap and also smelled fuel. He noticed that even the tap water had an oily sheen.
Lawyers representing the families say the trial will show that Navy officials failed to warn residents after learning about fuel in the water, and even say that staff members Were drinking water.
Navy representatives and government lawyers did not respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Fuel storage tanks have long been a flashpoint in Hawaii, with Native Hawaiians and other residents raising concerns over the past decade about leaks threatening widespread water supplies. The tanks sit atop an aquifer that supplies water to 400,000 people in urban Honolulu.
At first, the Navy said it had not determined how the petroleum got into the water, but its own investigation ultimately revealed a wide range of mistakes were the cause.
On May 6, 2021, operator error caused a pipe to burst and spill 21,000 gallons (80,000 l) of fuel that was being transferred between tanks. However, most of the fuel entered the fire suppression line and remained there until six months later, when a vehicle entered the line and released 20,000 gallons (75,700 l) that eventually got into the water system.
Red Hill workers noticed that one tank was short of that amount, but did not report the discrepancy to senior leadership.
Dietz did not want to risk her husband’s career by asking him to leave Hawaii. So they stayed put and committed to avoiding tap water while thinking about their next move.
“They’re going to have another family in this house,” she said. “So we need to stay here and we need to fight to fix this.”
In doing so, Dietz says he found unexpected allies among Native Hawaiians, who regard water as a sacred resource and already have a distrust of the U.S. military that can be traced back to at least 1893. When a group of American businessmen lent support. US Marines overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Kawenaulaokala Kapahua – a Native Hawaiian political science doctoral student and one of the activists pushing to shut down the tanks – said the water crisis has created a sense of solidarity with affected military families. He said it has also fostered relationships within the military community with members who often cycle quickly in and out of the islands.
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When families felt abandoned by the military, “the people who came out for them were the original communities,” Kapahua said.
Dietz agreed. “They gave us a seat at the table,” she said, crying.
Eventually, under orders from state officials, outrage, and pressure from the ongoing protests, the army evacuated the tanks.
Dietz’s husband later received new orders and the family is relocating to Jacksonville, Florida this summer. He does not plan to live in military housing there.
As she prepares to move out of the home where the ice maker has been turned off for 2021, Dietz hopes the trial will reignite awareness of what happened Water,
“Somebody’s going to come in,” she said, “and I’m worried they’re going to turn on the ice machine.”
