‘IT SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN EGGS’

City report identifies sewer-odour hotspots based on 7,000 complaints

“It smells like rotten eggs ... It’s awful ... you can’t wait for that light to turn green.”

Something is still rotten in the city of Edmonton.

More than 7,000 complaints about sewer odours have been filed since 2009, says a new city report that identifies certain hot spots known to wrinkle noses.

Monty Nelson lives in south Edmonton and has dealt with drifting putrid odours for the past decade.

“It smells like rotten eggs,” he said, noting that the epicentre of the area’s fetid smell is an intersection at 34 Avenue and 106 Street. “It’s awful ... you can’t wait for that light to turn green.”

Nelson, vice-president of the Ermineskin Community League, described the sewer odour as a chronic issue that has left residents feeling neglected.

“The smell is so bad it can’t be fixed soon enough.”

It’s an issue city staff are taking seriously, said Todd Wyman, director of network integration.

There are a variety of causes for the unpleasant odours that plague certain city streets. This includes the long distance sewage must travel through pipes in older parts of the city and low levels of wastewater flow, said the report slated for the city’s utility committee next Friday.

The concentration of sewage as well as the drop structure of pipelines are also factors, Wyman added.

“Think of it as a waterfall … it does aerate, it does create turbulence,” he said, noting that drops in pipes churn up the sewage and release scent. “It is a lot (about) our trunk systems and how the flow of sewage actually makes its way from the outskirts of the city to the Gold Bar wastewater treatment plant.”

Wyman said the number of odour complaints has been fairly steady since 2009 and may vary based on increasing awareness of the issue. In 2011, the city received 1,271 complaints, compared to 881 in 2009. Last year, Edmontonians filed 795 complaints.

He said his team will investigate areas where there were high numbers of complaints which correspond to drop structures within the system. Hot spots include south Edmonton neighbourhoods like Steinhauer, and Bonnie Doon, an older neighbourhood in the core.

The report outlined solutions already in place such as air scrubbing, flushing of pipes and plugging emission sources. But it isn’t enough to quell the stench.

“Most of the changes have historically been reactive and have yielded limited success, based on continuing odour reports from residents,” the report said.

An odour control strategy, set to be completed by December, will set priorities in neighbourhoods across Edmonton. Pilot projects could be launched as early as 2019 after a year of development.

“Because this system has been built over many years … through different stages … as we go back in terms of rehabilitating the system we look at hydraulic inefficiencies and minimize that,” Wyman said.

Coun. Ben Henderson, who represents core neighbourhoods south of the river including Bonnie Doon, said foul smells prevent people from using commercial and residential spaces.

“When that rotting leaf smell comes back up, it can make areas unlivable,” Henderson said, adding that community members have been “screaming about it for years.”

“I understand the public’s impatience and I share that impatience …. We need to find an answer.”

Coun. Ed Gibbons, representing northeast neighbourhoods, said it’s a regional issue for municipalities bordering Edmonton as well.

“As we grow we put the stress on their lines, too,” he said, noting the report confirmed what the committee knew about drainage issues in the city.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to go away. We have to keep working on it and get ahead of it.”