Living next to a country club, there are certain amenities one comes to expect. But a foul odor emanating from the golf course’s water features, green algae covering the waterway and a growing mosquito problem likely aren’t among them.

Yet that is what neighbors of the Honolulu Country Club (HCC) have had to contend with for too many years, and corrective measures must be taken before the situation develops into a public health threat. HCC needs to be a good neighbor and take steps to identify and eliminate the odor, perform mosquito abatement and dredge the waterway as it had done long ago.

Costly though it might be, HCC had acknowledged more than a decade ago that maintaining the waterways was its responsibility. HCC signed an agreement with the city that stated the country club “shall be responsible for maintenance of the stream banks and waterways” following a city-led effort, completed in 2005, to clear the waterway at a cost of $1 million-plus.

It’s unclear to what extent the waterway has been maintained since then. What is clear is that not enough has been done to eliminate the smell and green algae.

State Sen. Glenn Wakai, who has lived at the neighboring Country Club Village for eight years, says the situation has grown worse. Wakai has tried to help resolve the problem for the past 12 years to no avail, noting: “There’s smell. There’s mosquitoes.”

While state Health Department readings from the waterway near Country Club Village came back showing elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs, they were “not at levels that would cause any health concerns,” a department spokeswoman said.

Still, it would be unwise for the country club to ignore the persistent nuisance and allow the problems to escalate, especially with mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue fever and the Zika virus still top of mind.

In a November letter to the state Health Department, the country club said it is open to working with the state and city to address concerns. However, it would take a city ordinance amendment to allow the city to address issues in private streams — and taxpayers should not have to carry that burden for private landowners.

Already, the city is planning to build two basins and make other improvements — at a total cost of $2.5 million — that would capture some of the sediment, debris and rocks that come from the edges of Aliamanu Crater before they enter the waterway.

To hope for more city involvement is neither productive nor realistic, despite HCC’s obvious leanings that way. “We continue to work hard to maintain these waterways, but the task has become increasingly difficult over the years,” HCC Executive Vice President Gary Brown said in the letter to the Health Department. “Although the lakes and drainage channels are entirely contained within the perimeter of HCC property, the City and County has greatly assisted in the past by taking responsibility for dredging these waterways to remove the silt that washes into the lakes and channels.”

HCC cannot be allowed to renege on its responsibility to maintain the waterway on its own property, nor can it remain stagnant. It needs to enlist algae and environmental specialists to devise an action plan and an ongoing maintenance routine. It needs to carry these out, and simply, be a better neighbor.