Military officials ushered in photographers and reporters to Pacific Fleet Headquarters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam on Friday morning for a ceremonial signing of a plan to restore clean drinking water to the Navy’s water distribution system that was contaminated with petroleum last month.

Officials with the Navy, Army, state Department of Health and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency all took turns signing the plan as members of the news media snapped photographs and others in the room erupted in applause.

But in a surprising twist, officials later said they wouldn’t be releasing a copy of the plan, leaving reporters guessing what was in it.

Navy Rear Adm. Blake Converse did provide brief comments prior to the signing, saying that it was developed by a team of doctors, engineers and scientists, as well as representatives from all branches of the military, the DOH, EPA and state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“They’ve worked for several days to get this plan fleshed out,” Converse said. “The plan includes flushing the water distribution system the Navy has, community by community. And then once we have completed that flushing of the main distribution system, we are going to test that distribution system to ensure that it meets our EPA and Hawaii Department of Health standards for safe drinking water.”

Converse said officials would then flush individual homes, schools and any other entity on the Navy’s water system, and take additional samples.

“We have engineered this flushing plan, and we are bringing in massive filtration systems to ensure that any water that is flushed from our system will have no environmental impact,” he said.

In last November the Navy and DOH began receiving hundreds of complaints from users of the Navy’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water system that their water smelled of fuel. Military families have complained of health effects such as skin rashes, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches, and the military has relocated about 3,200 people to hotels.

Reporters were initially told they couldn’t ask any questions during Friday’s ceremonial signing, though they were later told that Converse would take brief questions.

Converse said it is expected to take 17 days for a community’s water to be restored after flushing begins. He said the flushing could start as early as Sunday and that some communities could be done at the same time.

Later on Friday, officials from DOH, EPA, the Navy and Army put out a joint news release saying they had established an Interagency Drinking Water System Team to make sure Navy water users have a “clear, coordinated source of information” as officials work to restore safe drinking water.

As part of their first order of business, they said they signed on to a Drinking Water Sampling Plan.

The sampling steps are expected to include testing water samples from the Waiawa, Halawa and Red Hill shafts; collecting samples from areas that have been flushed; and random samples from selected homes and buildings. The plan also includes analyzing drinking water samples over the two-year period after residents have returned home, according to the news release.

However, officials also declined to release a copy of that plan.

A spokeswoman for the Navy told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that both plans “are currently under review to avoid the potential release of sensitive information.”

“We’re working as fast as we can; we want to release everything we can release in the interest of being transparent,” said Marissa Huhmann, a Navy spokeswoman.