Navy Water Crisis: Landlords Hit with Class Action in Hawaii Over Alleged Failure to Protect Properties’ Water Supply

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A group of Hawaii landlords has been hit with a proposed class action after thousands of military and civilian tenants were forcibly evicted in November 2021 due to contaminated drinking water linked to underground fuel storage by the U.S. Navy. 

The 15-page breach-of-contract lawsuit alleges Ohana Military Communities, Hunt MH Property Management, Island Palm Communities and Hickam Communities have broken their leases with tenants by failing to sufficiently protect their properties’ water supply from contamination. The plaintiffs look to recover economic damages, including but not limited to the repayment of rent, for more than 2,000 tenants, the filing says. 

“Notwithstanding their contractual duties, Defendants have breached their lease agreements with Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit charges. “Specifically, Defendants have failed to maintain and provide safe and habitable housing by failing to provide safe, clean, and healthy drinking water to Plaintiffs.” 

The complaint alleges the defendants, who manage and lease residential housing in Honolulu under agreements with the U.S. Navy, have failed to protect the properties’ potable water supply despite knowing of the risk of contamination posed by the nearby Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Earlier this month, the Navy reversed course on its challenge of a December 2021 state emergency order and said that it will drain Red Hill’s 20 World War II-era underground fuel storage tanks. 

In December, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply said damage from the fuel contamination is “wider than suspected,” as more than 5,000 people from service member families have reported experiencing medical conditions due to drinking the contaminated water.

The services the landlords are obligated to provide include the provision of potable water through the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Water System, which is maintained by the Navy, the case stresses. The suit contends, however, that the water supply for the residential housing overseen by the defendants has not been protected from the risk of contamination linked to repeated petroleum fuel leaks at Red Hill, roughly 2.5 miles from Pearl Harbor. 

The filing states that the Red Hill facility sits directly above Oahu’s sole groundwater aquifer, which, per the suit, is the “irreplaceable” principal source of most of Oahu’s drinking water.

According to the lawsuit, the Red Hill facility is estimated to have leaked more than 178,000 gallons of fuel since its inception and presents an “undisputed risk” to the aquifer responsible for providing potable water to the communities leased by the defendants. The landlords are alleged to have known of the persistent fuel leaks into the water supply yet failed to disclose the existence of the problem to tenants. 

“Defendant Landlords possess knowledge of the risk of water contamination from Red Hill by and through their relationships with the Navy and sale of water from the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman Water system,” the plaintiffs allege. 

Per the lawsuit, the plaintiffs and other forcibly evicted tenants have overpaid in rent for services the defendants have failed to provide, and lost the use and enjoyment of their homes and community. 

In addition to requiring the draining of the Red Hill fuel storage tanks, the Hawaii emergency order also mandates that the Navy suspend operations at the Red Hill facility, install a drinking water treatment system in the shaft where the contamination was detected and implement other corrective measures. 

After its initial filing on December 31, 2021 in Hawaii Circuit Court, the proposed class action was removed to the state’s federal court on January 24, 2022. 

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