Residents and commuters just east of booming H Street NE on Wednesday couldn't escape an unpleasant odor.
A foul smell pervaded the area near Benning Road and 17th Street NE, disgusted locals told News4.
"It's making me nauseated. It's a horrible smell," resident Patricia Cave said.
"It smells like incinerated animal -- sewage," driver Rick Miles said.
The manager of Wings N' More Wings on Benning Road doused the street outside the business with a bleach solution after he saw a garbage truck spew liquid.
When that didn't work, the District Department of the Environment used a "flusher truck" to hose down the street, and field-tested the liquid.
"We didn't find any hazardous materials or anything like that involved," DDOE emergency operations chief John Emminizer, Jr. said. "It's basically trash liquid from a trash truck."
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The apparent garbage juice will be analyzed in a lab.
As of Wednesday evening, only a faint smell remained.
