My family is one of those 3,000+ immersed in this event. It was surreal seeing it on the front page of HN earlier today. We haven't touched the water in our hou

My family is one of those 3,000+ immersed in this event. It was surreal seeing it on the front page of HN earlier today. We haven't touched the water in our house for about six weeks now, spending lots of time going back and forth between our house and hotels and laundromats and fast food places for daily needs, while trying to figure out what to do next. We're discarding most of our kitchen items and appliances that touched the water, and trying to move elsewhere. At first, I figured that this was no big deal. We've dealt with water quality issues before in various places, using bottled water or boiling for a couple days, or just running the water until there was no visible sediment. I realized that this was more serious when other residents started reporting symptoms consistent with things that my family had experienced over the preceding weeks and months. The symptoms were mysterious and generally low-level, the kind that you would mention to your spouse but then write-off, rather than taking a sick day to see a doctor until they persist for a month. So we know that we were exposed to something nasty that we couldn't see, taste, or smell until it reached some peak around Thanksgiving. What's most disconcerting is that we really have no idea how long we were exposed, to what chemicals, and in what amounts. I don't think we'll ever know, since rigorous sampling and testing and monitoring didn't start until after the Navy facilities folks started drawing water from a different well and flushing the pipes. Furthermore, there has been a pattern of Navy officials telling a story that everything is fine, and being evasive about the details, and then revising the story and releasing not-so-fine details later as a result of public outcry. Repeat several times. I don't even know what the working version of the official story is at this point. The Navy, Army (which also has many affected residents), and Hawaii Department of Health have issued starkly different guidance, forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to step in and mediate. I actually considered submitting something on this to HN a few weeks ago, hoping to get opinions on the situation from some disinterested experts that hang out here. How bad might this be for us? Does any version of the story make sense? The financial costs to the government will be staggering. Affected residents are getting paid for months of hotels, meals, and incidentals. We're submitting claims for damaged property items. The Navy has acquired dozens of huge filtration devices and flown them here overnight along with contractors to do remediation and consultants to inject expertise. All of this was over Christmas and the peak tourist season in Hawaii, plus COVID supply chain issues, at the highest possible prices.