There are times when one expects to smell the pungent odor of beer.
Walking in a park in Hawaii is not among them.
That’s why Hawaii state health officials were called in when a hiker in the Waipo area of Hawaii near Honolulu got a whiff of the sudsy stuff while out walking, according to KGMB-TV.
“The other day we came here you would think it was a beer pub that hadn’t opened its doors for three or four days,” said environmental activist Carroll Cox.
Tracing back from the park, state officials found that a spill from a storm pipe was causing alcohol to leak into the stream.
This in itself was a bit of a mystery because it had not rained recently before the stinky spill.
The state Department of Transportation, which owns the pipe, said the spill came from a warehouse owned by Paradise Beverages, which is located on the other side of a freeway from where the spill took place.
The company remains mystified.
“Right now, we’ve had the Department of Transportation come in with their representatives and we’re dealing with them and we’ve also been contacted by the Department of Health,” said Anthony Rowe, the company’s director of operations.
“It may be coming from us so that’s why we’re working with the proper authorities,” he said.
When KGMB tested the water, it found that the stream had an alcohol level of 1.2 percent and a sugar level of .04 percent.
The state now says no polluted water is leaking into the creek.
“It’s disturbing. It makes you want to pull your hair out, and I don’t have much left,” said Cox.
“The alcohol is not suitable for marine life; it’s toxic,” Cox said, according to SFGate.
Cox said that when he spoke to the hiker, the hiker said a similar incident happened about five years ago.
Cox does not want to let the matter drop.
“Hawaii is a fragile environment and it’s always at risk due to these kinds of dumpings,” says Cox.
“What we want to see here in this case is that the Hawaii State Clean Water Branch takes legal action against the DOT, and then the DOT is bound to take action against the person that is responsible for the discharge,” Cox said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
