Belt system putting a lid on sewage stink in American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — Chances are that if you drive on I-15, you have noticed a stench as you pass through American Fork.

And no one wants that smell gone more than the people who live in the area.

Here's some good news for them: The smell hasn't been so bad lately.

That's because the Timpanogos Special Service District installed two belts in the water reclamation plant that moves the human waste sludge and extracts the water.

As late as early March, the sludge was being left out on drying beds to extract the water, which caused the odor issues.

Because the winter has been cold and wet, the sludge in the beds has not dried quickly and the odor hangs in the air, said Garland Mayne, district manager for the Timpanogos Special Service District.

Once the water is extracted from the sludge, the dry biosolids are turned into compost and the water is recycled back to another plant with the raw sewage.

Both belts, which began processing the sludge last week, are part of a larger expansion and new design that moves away from the drying bed technology. When the final expansion is completed, the district will have four belts running, Mayne said.

A bit behind schedule, the belts have been running eight to 12 hours per day to keep up with the demand, said Jon Adams, superintendent and assistant manager of the service district.

"Even though we're starting the process (of the belts), the odors are not going away immediately," Adams said.

But it is getting better, and yes, the people who work for the service district do notice the smell.

"We are trying to take care of the problem," Mayne said.

Adams said when the area around the service district was mostly undeveloped, few people complained about the smell. But as the property along I-15 became more valuable, businesses began to buy up property and didn't want the odors creeping into their offices.

Adams said if they had known several years ago that the area would be developed, they could have started the process of installing the belts sooner.

"We can't change processes as fast as a developer can build a building," Adams said.

From start to finish, the expansion project will take about three years.

The service district serves 190,000 people in Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lehi, Alpine, Highland, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs and the SunCrest neighborhood in Draper.

---

E-mail: csmith@desnews.com