Stink in Port Moody is traced to Pacific Terminals
Metro Vancouver officials have identified Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody as the likely source of bursts of a sulphurous stink wafting intermittently into southeast neighbourhoods of the city since the weekend of Aug. 9.
The smell, described variously as being like rotten eggs, natural gas, sour or sulphurous, brought calls to Port Moody Fire and Rescue, which directed complaints to Metro Vancouver’s air quality complaints line when it couldn’t find an immediate source of danger.
Residents have made 195 complaints to the reporting line since then, sparking an investigation by Metro Vancouver environmental officers, which, by Aug. 12, homed in on the potential source, according to a statement from Kathy Preston, program manager for air quality regulation.
Pacific Coast Terminals initially wasn’t identified, Preston said, because “it was not clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the facility was the sole source” of the stink.
Sunday, however, an executive for the shipping facility issued a statement acknowledging that problems with its water treatment system are the likely source, which it is “working around the clock” to fix.
The company cited a combination of hot weather and lack of rain that contributed to the development of anaerobic bacterial growth, which resulted in the production of smelly reduced-sulphur compounds.
For a week, the mystery of where the odour was emanating sparked a vigorous discussion on Port-Moody-based Facebook discussion groups among residents, some who reported breathing difficulties and fears about lingering health effects.
According the company statement, attributed to vice-president and general manager Andre Olivier, the source of smell is “organic in nature and poses no health risk to the public.”
Pacific Terminals pleads for patience while its staff and third-party specialists work to resolve the odour issue.
“As we work to resolve this there may be brief surges of odour emitted at certain points in the remediation process,” Olivier said.