JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Wendy Cochran and her neighbors on Chalfant Drive in Metairie say they are overwhelmed by a rotten egg smell hanging over their homes.
“It’s really been horrible,” Cochran said. “Especially if the wind blows you can come outside, and the stench is just terrible.”
The stench is coming from the wastewater treatment plant in Elmwood.
It’s the third largest in the state.
The plant was damaged during Hurricane Ida two years ago.
Jefferson Parish Councilman Deano Bonano says to make matters worse, the odor control system has been broken for about a year and could take months to replace.
“So, I hired a consultant at the last council meeting to come in and look at the whole odor control system out of my council discretionary funds,” Bonano said. “I want them to design a new odor control system that we can bid out and bond and install at the plant.”
The bad smell is caused by hydrogen sulfide, a gas produced in wastewater.
Without a fully functioning odor control system, it’s difficult or impossible to reduce all the odors.
JP Department of Sewage Director Hubert Franklin says work is now underway to recoat the concrete circular treatment tanks known as primary clarifiers which have eroded over time.
“We’ve been doing a recoating process where we’ve been having the hatches off to let the hydrogen sulfide gas go out into the atmosphere, so it won’t put a dangerous environment for the workers,” Franklin said.
But the gas release also adds to the stench in the air.
Neighbors in the Richland Gardens subdivision across from the wastewater treatment plant say they’ve been dealing with foul odors for years. They tell us lately; the smell has been worse than ever.
“With the Holidays coming up and the weather changing, everyone wants to be outside, but with the smell you really don’t want to be outside,” Cochran said. “It’s not enjoyable.”
Franklin says the odor will likely lessen when the recoating process at the plant is finished in January.
Bonano estimates it could take up to six months to get a new odor control system up and running at the Elmwood treatment plant.
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