Booze Overflows into City Sewer System

Booze Overflows into City Sewer System

February 10, 2003

LOUISVILLE (AP) -- Human error is blamed for the spill of as much as 1,800 gallons of Pepe Lopez Tequila at the Brown-Forman Distillery in Louisville Monday morning.

Fire units were dispatched to the scene at 8:23 on the report of a hazardous materials incident because the tequila poured into the Louisville sewer system.

Company spokesman Phil Lynch says an employee was unloading a tanker truck and put the hose into a receiving tank that was already full. Lynch says it was a simple case of human error.

The booze overflowed at the rate of 100 gallons per minute, resulting in 1,500 to 1,800 gallons of the product entering the sewer system.

The Fire Department and Metropolitan Sewer District were called because of the flammability of the 80 proof Tequila. The alcohol was diluted with water.

Lynch said the monetary loss was not immediately tabulated.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)