Red Hill Public Health Assessment Introductory Factsheet

ATSDR will use environmental data and health information collected since 2005 to evaluate the potential health risks.

ATSDR will identify data and information gaps that stand in the way of better addressing people’s questions about exposures and health risks.

ATSDR will make recommendations to agencies and community members to help protect public health. ATSDR will release the findings in a written report on our website, (https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/).

ATSDR will communicate regularly with the community.

ATSDR is committed to regularly communicating and sharing information with the community and other organizations about our public health assessment process, findings, and recommendations.

We do this by talking with residents and organizational leaders, responding to questions and concerns from the community, and participating in community meetings.

The public health assessment process can take several years. Time is needed to gather and analyze data, develop health recommendations, write and review a final report, and share the final report with the community and other organizations.

ATSDR team members are available throughout the public health assessment process.

Contact ATSDR’s Office of Community Health Hazard Assessment (Region 9) with questions about ATSDR’s Red Hill public health assessment activities.
• Jamie Rayman, Health Educator and Community Involvement Specialist, jrayman@cdc.gov
• Ben Gerhardstein, Environmental Health Scientist, bgerhardstein@cdc.gov

The public health assessment activities will build on these previous ATSDR activities:

• Pearl Harbor Naval Complex public health assessment—In the 2005 Public Health Assessment on the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, ATSDR identified two locations where contaminants were detected in the shallow groundwater: the Ewa Junction Fuel Drumming Facility and the Red Hill Oily Waste Disposal Facility. ATSDR concluded that contaminants from those sources had not reached and were unlikely to reach the deeper aquifer used to supply drinking water.
  A copy of the report is available at https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/PearlHarborNavalComplex/PearlHarborNavalComplexPHA122805.pdf
• Assessment of Chemical Exposures (ACE) online health survey—In 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ATSDR, and HDOH invited users of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water system to participate in an online health survey and a follow-up health survey. The surveys gathered information about the symptoms and experiences of people who were affected by the November 2021 fuel leak. Findings of the two health surveys are available on the HDOH website at https://health.hawaii.gov/about/red-hill-water-information/#survey.
• Medical records review—In 2023, at the request of the Department of Defense’s Defense Health Agency, ATSDR reviewed Department of Defense medical records for over 650 service members and their family members, to look for patterns of symptoms and diagnoses among individuals affected by the 2021 leak.

About ATSDR

ATSDR is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ATSDR protects communities from harmful health effects related to exposure to natural and man-made hazardous substances.

We do this by responding to environmental health emergencies; investigating emerging environmental health threats; conducting research on the health impacts of hazardous waste sites; and building capabilities of and providing actionable guidance to state and local health partners.

For more information about ATSDR, visit our website at https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/.