Hundreds of residents of Kunia Village have finally been given the all-clear to resume drinking their tap water after two wells that supplied their potable water tested positive for chemicals called PFAS earlier this year.

The Central Oahu farming community, which includes about 650 people, had for months been advised by health officials not to use their tap water for drinking, cooking and brushing their teeth and were left hauling jugs of water into their homes.

Long-term exposure to the so-called forever chemicals can increase the risk of certain cancers and other heath problems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has moved to strictly limit them in drinking water.

The Kunia Water Association shut down both of the wells following the PFAS detections, and in April the Army began supplying the community with water from a well that serves Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield and Helemano Military Reservation.

Stephanie Whalen, president of the Kunia Water Association, said the water distribution system serving the village was flushed for more than two months, and the latest sample came back clean. She said the community was told it could resume drinking the water at the beginning of this month.

The challenges that Kunia Village has faced in recent months are ones that are playing out throughout the country as water systems that test positive for PFAS begin looking at expensive options for treating or developing new water sources in light of the EPA’s proposed limits, which could be finalized by the end of the year.

Whalen said that while Kunia Village’s drinking water system has been deemed safe, the association is still trying to figure out long-term options. She said the emergency supply provided by the Army had compromised the community’s ability to water its agricultural fields because the drinking water is being pushed through one of two pipelines that were reserved for irrigation.

She said the association is looking at possibly drilling a new well, treating its well water to remove PFAS or installing a new water line.

“This whole thing is such a global issue,” said Whalen. “It’s just slow for everybody to figure out what to do.”

The state Department of Health announced in January that PFAS, an acronym for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, had been detected in one of the two wells that supplied the village with drinking water. The water samples showed levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) that were many times higher than the EPA’s proposed limits of 4 parts per trillion. PFOA registered 22 to 27 ppt, while PFOS was between 45 and 50 ppt.

Then in April, DOH said that the contaminants also had been detected in the other well, though at trace levels. PFOA was detected at 5.6 to 7.8 ppt, while PFOS was detected at 11.7 to 14 ppts.

Whalen said the well with the lower levels of contaminants is still being used in irrigation. She said the source of the PFAS contamination still isn’t known.