Welcome to a different reality! Hear Kahu Roddy Kawailualani Kawehi Akau of Moanalua in a free flowing interview about Kapūkakī, Red Hill, and the surrounding Moanalua ahupuaʻa. He throws off ideas and cultural references like sparks as he explains the cultural and spiritual significance of the area.

A few days ago officials found fuel chemicals in a monitoring well outside the Navy’s Kapūkakī/Red Hill fuel storage facility. The Honolulu Board of Water Supply says civilian drinking water system is still safe, but data released by the Sierra Club shows the storage facility has leaked more than 188,000 gallons of chemicals into its surroundings since 1947.

In March this year, the Navy reversed itself and agreed that the facility is dangerous. The Navy submitted a plan to remove the fuel by the end of 2024. Hawaiʻiʻs Health Department has rejected that plan as too vague. A new plan must be submitted by September 7, 2022.

Meanwhile, Oʻahu's largest freshwater source, the Hālawa Shaft, has been shut down, along with two others. Residents have been asked to cut water use by ten percent, and concerns about ongoing contamination fuel nightmare scenarios.

So grateful for the opportunity to share this rare conversation with Kahu Roddy Akau. We first met in 2015. That year, he wrote a widely circulated editorial stating the significance of Kapūkakī, Red Hill. He warned of the danger to Oʻahu's water supply, and requested that the Navy move the storage facility.

UHWO compilation of resources about Oʻahuʻs water crisis:

https://guides.westoahu.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=977248&p=7079960

More about beautiful Moanalua Valley, purchased by the state and the Trust for Public Land in 2008

https://www.tpl.org/our-work/moanalua-valley