Smelly lagoons’ days are numbered
Heavy truck traffic expected as desludging efforts get underway
If you live, work or shop in New Minas — or have even driven through the village as of late — chances are you’ve had your windows closed. This is because of the stench emanating from the first and second lagoons at the regional sewage treatment plant at the end of Jones Road. Although it probably isn’t advisable to take a deep breath and sigh of relief just yet, the County of Kings has a multi-million-dollar project in the works that should address the odour problem.
Scott Quinn, the County of Kings director of Engineering and Public Works, Lands and Parks, said that while three of the five lagoons are in top working order, and even play host to scores of ducks and geese, the first two need desludging and upgrades to the aeration systems. The aeration systems in the other three lagoons were replaced last year.
He said the municipality has been receiving a lot of complaints from the public about the smell from the plant, which serves an area between
Coldbrook and Greenwich, part of North Kentville and part of the Canaan and North Alton areas.
“Understandably, we had a number of complaints regarding that,” Quinn said about the stink. “Normally, we have a little bit of rollover in the spring, but this spring it did seem a little more prolonged and pronounced.”
The benefits of desludging include the removal of material that is causing the odour and unclogging the many aerators that help feed oxygen into the lagoon for a favourable bacterial balance.
WATCH OUT FOR TRUCKS
The desludging itself was expected to begin around July 10 and will be carried out 24/7