WAI'ANAE — Tad Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for the environment, told a special meeting of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board last night that a study needs to be done to determine the right course of action to take regarding munitions dumped by the military in the Wai'anae area some 60 years ago.

Expanding the alternatives presented previously by the military, he went on to say that there are three "recovery and removal" options for dealing with the munitions along the Wai'anae coastline.

"First and foremost is to go out there and physically remove them (munitions) from the water. ... The second option is to blow them up in place based on the safety of the conditions.

"And the third option is to leave them there in place, (and) mark them on maps so that folks may know where hazards are located," he told a crowd of about 50 people at Wai'anae District Park.

Each option presents different challenges, and that's why it's essential to choose the right plan, he said. The important thing now, Davis said, is to determine "what additional study actually needs to be done, and then determining how to develop a plan for recovery and removal."

Davis last spoke to the community on the issue more than a year ago; his appearance last night was intended to update residents on what has happened since then.

Area resident Rodlyn Brown summed up the concerns of many when she asked Davis bluntly, "What contaminates are leaching from the munitions, and how are they affecting the residents? What's in that water?"

In essence, Davis said what's in the water is what needs to be determined. He said a council made up of representatives of local, city and county, state, federal, legislative and military groups and agencies has been convened to decide on the right plan.

Davis said a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study conducted with the University of Hawai'i had provided a starting point. He said that within the next 90 days the council would have a better understanding of the next study process needed and what sort of funding will be available from Congress to do it.

When Davis spoke at a similar community meeting in March 2006, he said that thousands of tons of chemical munitions — including mustard agent and hydrogen cyanide — that were dumped at sea off O'ahu during and immediately after World War II do not pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of the population. He added that the military did not think the munitions should be removed.

Since then, however, area residents reported that for years what were believed to be inch-long "coral beads" had been washing up on the shores off Ma'ili and collected by beachgoers, some of whom supposedly strung them into necklaces. Others had used the pellets to start fires.

An Army analysis of the bead-like pellets confirmed that the objects were actually extremely flammable propellant grains used in large-bore guns to fire high-explosive rounds during the war. The Army issued an advisory warning the population to avoid touching the pellets and to contact the military upon seeing any.

Meanwhile, an area diver reported that he had seen tons of the pellets littering the sea floor on a reef three miles off the Wai'anae Coast. He said the pellets had been floating ashore from a huge cache of unexploded munitions at two locations in the region — Five Inch Reef, about three miles off the coast, and Ammo Reef, directly outside the Wai'anae Boat Harbor.

Following NOAA's two-week study this year, the agency issued a report in March reiterating the Army's stance that the munitions were not a threat to sea life or the area's human population, and that the waters around where the munitions were dumped remained safe.

By that time many area residents had become skeptical. In April the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board unanimously approved a motion demanding that the Army begin removing the munitions by the end of that month. State Senate president Colleen Hanabusa agreed, saying if the war materials were safe, then the military should remove them.

Meanwhile, Charles Streck, Ordnance Program Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District, said the corps will conduct a yearlong study of the propellant pellets.

"We have no systematic data at this point" on the pellets, said Streck, who emphasized that the corps' main concern with the pellets is public safety. He asked for the assistance of community members who could provide historical information about the pellets — where they've been found and during which times of the year — so the corps could determine where to locate the pellets and how wave actions move them around.

"We don't know if they come in in clumps, or if they come in one or two at a time," he said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.