No mercury follow-up planned
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
Exactly one year after mercury contamination prompted the evacuation of a Halawa public housing project and a $600,000 cleanup, state health officials have deemed the area safe, with no follow-up inspections planned.
However, some residents and environmental groups say the state isn't doing enough.
The incident on March 12, 2001, at Pu'uwai Momi housing project off Kohomua Street forced many of its 1,100 residents to leave their homes for as long as two weeks after elemental mercury was found in homes, parking lots and grassy areas.
The trouble started when children brought the metallic-looking liquid to the housing project from an abandoned pumphouse near Pearl Harbor's Richardson Field.
Mercury from the pumphouse also was found at Makalapa Neighborhood Park, and at least one home on Pupupuhi Street in Waipahu.
Area schools were temporarily closed as a precaution while health crews checked for the poisonous metallic element.
State health director Bruce Anderson said last week the Halawa project and pumphouse area had been cleaned of any remaining mercury.
"After a thorough cleanup and inspection, and with no one becoming seriously ill from the mercury contamination, a follow-up of the area is not needed," Anderson said. He said the state had taken 30 pounds of mercury from the pumphouse, which has since been fenced off.
None of the 79 area residents who were potentially exposed to mercury reported any serious illnesses.
The state's decision not to conduct a follow-up evaluation at Pu'uwai Momi has not pleased environmental groups and some residents of the 212-unit Pu'uwai Momi housing project, many of whom lost personal property to contamination.
Some residents have hired an attorney because they disagree with the amount the state has reimbursed them for those items.
"You think that after all that happened they would at least do a courtesy follow-up for the children's sake," said Bernadette Chung, who heads the Pu'uwai Momi tenants association.
"The kids should be getting some testing," said Carroll Cox of Enviro Watch Inc., a local chapter of a national environmental watchdog group. "I can't believe how the state is treating this so lightly."
Area resident Katie Williams, who with her family of eight spent the duration of the cleanup at Halawa District Park gym, recalled when the mercury-covered sidewalks outside her apartment appeared as if someone had painted them silver.
"It's been a year, and I'm still fighting with the state over my lost items," said Williams, whose personal property damage came to $17,000, she said.
A subsequent investigation by state health officials found that the site of the old Navy water pumping station had been deeded to the state in 1962, and was under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Anderson said mercury is dangerous when inhaled as a vapor for a prolonged period, causing loss of memory and intellectual deterioration.
"It evaporates at about the same temperature as water does, so we were worried if it remained inside the apartments and was inhaled," Anderson said.
He said his department had required the pumphouse property owners — the DLNR and state Department of Defense — to help pay for some of the $600,000 cleanup.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
