Davis toiling to minimize foul odors

SYRACUSE — The North Davis Sewer District has been receiving an increasing number of complaints from residents about a foul odor originating from the sewer treatment plant.

The district has already taken steps to minimize the odor complaints and is awaiting a two-monthm study to determine what more can be done.

Board members say they are concerned because the increasing number of complaints coincides with the district's decision to expand the treatment plant to accommodate growth in north Davis County and Roy. The district, serving about 180,000 residents, is spending $80 million to expand the plant.

District manager Kevin Cowan said district leaders met with eight concerned neighbors over odor complaints last week, and pledged that steps would be taken to minimize the odor coming from the plant site. The district has already installed a wind sock to determine wind direction; measured the temperature of the biosolids pile to prevent rising temperatures from generating more odor; and used a tarp to capture vapors that come off an outdoor wastewater treatment process. The efforts to minimize odors has some neighbors breathing a little easier. "It isn't as bad as it once was," said Scott Shepherd, a Syracuse resident, who has lived in the area for about five years. The district needs to find a permanent fix to the problem, he said. Some of the odor complaints received by the district in May were a result of the way the district was processing its biosolid product, Cowan said. Biosolids are treated, decomposed and stabilized organic solids derived from the treatment of municipal waste. The biosolids that residents use to fertilize their lawns and gardens, Cowan said, do have a "distinctive odor."