Army Major Amanda F. and her family lived on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
In November 2021, Amanda, her husband and their 2 children all got violently ill.
They suffered from severe gastrointestinal issues, vertigo, and crushing lethargy that wouldn’t go away.
At first, they thought it might be food poisoning or the flu.
Then they noticed their tap water smelled like fuel.
On November 28, 2021, Navy officials detected petroleum contamination in the Red Hill Shaft.
The Red Hill Shaft is a water well that supplied drinking water to approximately 93,000 people around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
The contamination came from the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility – a massive World War II-era complex that stored 180 million gallons of fuel.
In May 2021, approximately 20,000 gallons of jet fuel had leaked into a drain line.
The Navy failed to account for all the fuel and didn’t tell regulators or the public.
The Hawaii Department of Health issued an urgent advisory on November 29.
Residents were warned to stop using their tap water immediately for drinking, cooking, bathing, or even brushing their teeth.
Over 6,000 people sought medical care.
Amanda´s family was displaced from their home and relocated multiple times to different hotels to avoid the toxic exposure.
Eventually, they had to leave Hawaii entirely.
More than three years later, Amanda and her entire family are still struggling with ongoing health problems.
The facility has been ordered to permanently shut down, but contamination in the aquifer may persist for decades.
As Amanda and thousands of other families discovered, clean drinking water is not guaranteed – even in America, on a military base.
And when water contamination hits, you need to know how to purify water on your own.
So, here are the methods and tools that can save you when the tap water fails.
Water purification fundamentals:
Water contamination can happen from multiple sources – industrial spills, natural disasters, infrastructure failures, or even intentional poisoning.
According to EPA data released in 2024, nearly half of all tap water in the United States contains detectable levels of PFAS chemicals.
The key to survival is having multiple methods of water purification, because no single method removes everything.
Benefits:
Protection from biological threats:
Boiling water for one minute (three minutes at elevations above 6,500 feet) kills virtually all bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
This is the most reliable method when you have fuel and a heat source available.
Quality portable water filters can remove 99.99% of bacteria and parasites from contaminated water sources.
These filters work immediately without requiring fuel or waiting time.
Chemical and Heavy Metal removal:
Reverse osmosis filters push water through a special membrane that removes a much wider range of contaminants.
They can eliminate PFAS chemicals, heavy metals like lead and arsenic, and many other chemical pollutants.
Activated carbon filters remove chlorine, volatile organic compounds, pesticides, and improve water taste.
For families dealing with long-term water contamination, these systems provide protection that boiling alone cannot match.
Emergency backup:
Water purification tablets like chlorine dioxide tablets are compact, lightweight, and can purify water in 15 minutes to 4 hours.
They’re perfect for bug-out bags, vehicle emergency kits, and situations where you can’t carry heavy filtration systems.
Having multiple purification methods means you’re never dependent on a single solution that might fail or run out.
Independence from failed infrastructure:
When municipal water systems fail, you’re not dependent on emergency bottled water distribution that may never arrive.
The Red Hill families waited hours in lines for bottled water – and sometimes supplies ran out.
With your own purification capability, you can source water from rivers, lakes, rainwater collection, or even swimming pools.
This independence is priceless during extended infrastructure failures.
Drawbacks:
No single solution:
Different contaminants require different purification methods – there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
You need multiple purification methods to handle different contamination scenarios, which increases cost and complexity.
Filter maintenance and replacement:
Water filters clog over time, especially when filtering heavily contaminated or sediment-filled water.
Ceramic filters need to be scrubbed regularly, and carbon filters must be replaced when they’re exhausted.
In crisis situations, replacement filters may be unavailable, leaving you with degraded purification capability.
Always stock extra filter cartridges and understand the lifespan of your equipment.
Limited protection against chemical spills:
Most portable water filters designed for camping are not effective against petroleum products, PFAS, or industrial chemicals.
If your water source is contaminated with fuel, like Red Hill was, standard backpacking filters won’t make it safe.
In some contamination scenarios, water may simply be unusable no matter what purification method you have.
Your water purification priorities:
Here’s what you should focus on for comprehensive water purification preparedness:
Priority 1: Multi-Stage home filtration
Install a quality reverse osmosis system or multi-stage filter for your home’s drinking water.
Even if you trust your municipal water now, having this protection in place means you’re ready when contamination happens.
Priority 2: portable emergency filters
Keep a Grayl UltraPress or similar high-quality press bottle that removes viruses, bacteria, and chemicals.
Stock water purification tablets as a lightweight backup – they’re essential for bug-out bags and vehicle kits.
Have at least one gravity filter system for group situations.
These portable options cover you whether you’re sheltering at home or evacuating.
Priority 3: Water Storage
Store at least one gallon of water per person per day for a minimum of two weeks.
Keep water in food-grade containers away from direct sunlight and chemicals.
Having clean water stored means you don’t need to purify anything during the critical first days of a crisis.
The reality is that water contamination incidents are becoming more frequent, not less.
172 million Americans live in communities with drinking water that has tested positive for PFAS.
You can’t trust the government or infrastructure to keep your water safe.
True security comes from having your own water purification capability and not depending on systems that can fail without warning.
