When University of Hawaii professor Marlin Atkinson came home Tuesday evening, he didn’t like what he saw in the Makana Kai Marina.

"I am a chemical oceanographer. I live here and I decided to take a look at what’s going on," said Atkinson.

He decided to take water samples to try and determine what was dumped into the Keaahala stream which leads down to the marina.

Twelve hours after the discharge was first discovered, the ocean waters were still discolored.

Atkinson said the resident manager called police to report the strange substance sometime after 7 a.m.

"The police tried to trace up the stream, with three other officers to find the source," said Mark Osbourne who manages the private marina and condominium complex.

Osbourne snapped pictures of the stream waters, which had turned a scary opaque white.

He also shared a photo taken by a resident who was testing out a camera mounted on a kite.

“It looked possibly like it could be a paint substance but we don't know," Osbourne said.

Professor Atkinson who conducts coral research at the Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology at Coconut Island was concerned for the marine environment.