HOUSTON – About 100 gallons of coconut lotion — roughly 12,000 12 oz. bottles worth — were dumped into the bayou system, police say, in what they are calling a criminal act.

“We don’t need that in our water. We like to take care of our water and our neighborhood,” said local resident Jeff Blackwell.

Blackwell and fellow retiree Jim Haney became whistleblowers after capturing video evidence of the pollution in the Woodland Trails West subdivision. They’re careful documentation helped police.

In May, the water, on its way to White Oak Bayou, was so polluted it appeared frozen in place.

“We had to decide where it was coming from,” Blackwell said.

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