Upgrade may help curb odors at sewage plant

PROVO (AP) — Local officials are hoping an $85 million upgrade to a sewage treatment plant will also eliminate a foul odor that they say is hurting community development.

In June, Pleasant Grove Mayor Mike Daniels asked all the mayors in the northern part of the county to sign a letter to Timpanogos Special Service District officials demanding the bad smell be eliminated.

"It has come to our attention by our citizens, landowners, businesses and potential investors that the odor generated by the ... operation is no longer tolerable," mayors said in the letter. "The odors have reached the point where they are affecting current and future parties surrounding the plant."

The letter was signed by the mayors of Cedar Hills, Highland, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Eagle Mountain, Lehi and Saratoga Springs.

The district's board is recommending that the odor problem be addressed during a proposed expansion of the plant.

Because of increasing demand at the sewer plant from population growth, an expansion has long been in the planning, said district manager Garland Mayne.

The plant processes 18.3 million gallons of wastewater from 160,000 residents and is nearing capacity, Mayne said. Work on the proposed expansion would take place over the next three years and would add another 10 million gallons of capacity.

Mayne said the district is willing to invest in special equipment to reduce the smell coming from the plant.

To control odors, parts of the existing facility and new facility would be covered while activated sludge and oxidation ditches are installed.

The estimated $85 million cost of the project would likely be funded through a revenue bond, Mayne said.