Oahu residents have had it with the Navy’s inaction in the face of an ongoing water crisis in Honolulu. Around 3,200 residents remain displaced and living in hotels due to contaminated water from the Red Hill well that serves the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam community. Those who work at places like the Navy Exchange food court or Moanalua Shopping Center face an uncertain future as both facilities remain closed with no set reopening date. In an interview with Honolulu Fox affiliate KHON, one employee who worked at the Navy Exchange food court said they don’t know how they’ll be able to make rent since they’ve been out of work for so long. “Now I might be out of a house because I couldn’t pay my rent for this month,” the anonymous employee told the station. “I know they’re helping the military families, but I don’t know about the other coworkers. We work in the food court, but we’re not military families.”

During a special council meeting on Wednesday in which the Honolulu City Council considered two solutions to the Red Hill water contamination, residents voiced their concerns and took the Navy to task for downplaying the severity of the crisis. “If the Navy couldn’t care for their own families are they really prepared to take care of the entire island?” one speaker wondered. She said the Navy’s handling of past fuel spills and pollution incidents isn’t just “reckless, it’s genocide.” Spokespeople for groups like Our Revolution Hawaii and Hawaii Peace and Justice echoed the speaker’s concerns. They also praised Honolulu officials for quickly taking up Bill 48 and Resolution 21-276. The bill prevents the operation of underground fuel storage tanks that hold more than 100,000 gallons unless a permit is obtained. Resolution 21-276 calls for the immediate removal of storage tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Both have received widespread support.

The Navy appears not to be one of those supporters and has repeatedly downplayed concerns over the massive fuel tanks stationed above vital water sources. An assessment by the Hawaii Department of Health last week found that the water at Red Hill contained 350 times the amount of diesel considered safe by the agency. The Navy pushed back at those results, prompting U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to call for the Environmental Protection Agency to step in. “We can’t afford another day of the Navy and the state and county agencies disagreeing on the basic question of whether the drinking water is safe,” Schatz said in a statement last week.

Last week, a Navy admiral told the Associated Press that the Red Hill well was contaminated by a jet fuel spill that occurred last month and not any leakage from the fuel storage tanks. On Nov. 20, 14,000 gallons of jet fuel spilled into an access tunnel. Though the official said the Navy had cleaned up the spill, contamination persists and has sickened residents and resulted in the shuttering of additional wells. The Navy initially pushed back against an order compelling it to act swiftly and decisively in responding to the water crisis but has since suspended operations at the fuel tank facility. The Navy also said it will conduct an independent study on the facility.

The crisis has escalated to the highest level of the military, with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issuing a statement earlier this week indicating he’s personally monitoring the contamination. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks visited the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and met with three military families, state health officials, and Gov. David Ige, Sen. Mazie Hirono, Schatz, Rep. Ed Case, and Rep. Kai Kahele. Hicks said she is “committed to ensuring the health and well-being for our Service Members, their families, the people of Hawaii, and the environment” and will brief Austin about her visit. She acknowledged that the Navy must work to earn the public’s trust.

Many who spoke during the special council meeting aren’t interested in giving the Navy another chance, however. Some slammed the military-industrial complex and the Navy for even continuing operations in Hawaii. Frequently, speakers reminded the council that they were speaking on Kānaka Maoli land and that the contamination issue originated at Kapukaki, illustrating the Navy and colonization’s erasure of the Indigenous community. Veterans also slammed the Navy but stressed that it wasn’t just an isolated incident—lawmakers on the civic level have also failed to adequately act. “Unfortunately, it took this disaster to get anybody to act. A lot of hand-wringing and posturing of elected officials across the board … Congressman Case got something put in the new NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] that Congress just passed to look into Red Hill,” Veteran Brett Kulbis said. “That’s nice, but that’s a little too late.”