Flooding at a nearby landfill polluted a number of Oahu beaches including those adjacent to Disney Vacation Club's Hawai'i resort.
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The normally traquil blue waters along the Ko Olina beaches is tinted a muddy brown due to runoff from a landfill. While much of the runoff was let out to sea, the man-made lagoons in this section of Oahu trapped the debris and polluted the beaches.
The debris is being described as medical waste. One local resident told the Honolulu Star Advertiser that he collected as many as 35 syringes and vials containing what appears to be blood from the beaches.
Our friend Werner Weiss from Yesterland.com provided the accompanying photos of the polluted beach.
According to Werner the beach is currently closed to the public. Cleanup is expected to take several days. Officials hope to re-open the beach on January 20, 2011.
The Star Advertiser reports that the landfill is only weeks away from compleing a bypass drain which would have rerouted the waste. The landfill's general manager claims that medical waste only accounts for one percent of all waste sent to the facility.
Disney's Aulani resort in Oahu is scheduled to open on August 29, 2011.
Additional details: Honolulu Star Advertiser
