Odor issues at Sewer Plant

SPECIAL PRESENTATION PLANNED FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 6TH. GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED! PALMYRA BOROUGH HALL BEGINNING AT 7:00 PM

UPDATE FOR FRIDAY, 7/20/2018:

Our Sewer Plant operators and professional consultants and engineers have been dealing with ongoing issues at the Sewer Plant since heavy rains in the spring increased flow into the plant by as much as 50%, which diluted the waste water and washed out the “good” microbes relied on to treat sewage.

This week however, the odor issue took a more serious turn for the worse and appears to be part of a larger problem uncovered yesterday.

After a strong and unusual odor was detected on Wednesday numerous waste water samples were studied microscopically; the analysis revealed that no active microbes were present in the aeration zone.

Further investigation revealed that a possibly illegal discharge event had occurred (release or dumping of an illicit chemical into the waste water stream) that resulted in a mass kill off of all microbes. And without this microbial activity sewage treatment is not possible resulting in the strong odors we now smell.

Additional testing has determined that the discharged material has now passed through the plant and some microbial activity has been restored. To expedite the process however, waste sludge from a neighboring community will be added to our plant to “reseed” it. We’re taking this step today but it will still take time for the plant to fully recover – perhaps as much as a week.

In addition, our operators will be cleaning accumulated condensate from the odor control lines to maximize the effectiveness of this process.

We apologize for this unfortunate situation and appreciate your patience as we put all of our efforts into fixing this problem.