If you’ve walked on the trails nearby Collingwood's Wastewater Treatment Plant off First Street in the past few months, you may have noticed a pungent smell in the air.
During Monday’s (June 13) development and operations standing committee meeting, the committee received a petition with 83 signatures as part of their consent agenda calling on council to address odour issues near the town’s wastewater treatment plant, which circulated to council at the end of May. In a letter accompanying the petition, Suzanne and Ted Donohoe pled with council to address the odours, while the town has said it’s part of necessary maintenance required for the two digestors at the facility.
“One cannot even walk the trail without a face covering, the smell is so putrid,” noted the Donohoes, noting that the smells were originally occasional, but over time are now almost daily and have extended beyond the trail area.
In an update to the committee concerning the issue, Manager of Environmental Services Heather McGinnity referenced issues at the plant on Dec. 24, 2021, and said those issues meant the town had to regroup when it came to scheduled maintenance required on both digestors in 2022.
“We have been managing a variety of issues at our wastewater treatment plant since the digester challenges on Christmas eve,” said McGinnity.
On Dec. 24, Digester 2 overflowed with partially digested sludge after it had stalled. About 100 cubic metres of partially digested sludge escaped the digester during the event and while most of it was contained on-site, it did approach the south end of the site close to the trail system.
According to staff, it was discovered that rags and wipes had plugged up the lines, which had led to the overflow.
Routine maintenance had been planned for the digester as part of the 2022 budget, which is typically completed every five years.
“The community has been bearing with us as we work through these processes. It is a biological process and these things do take time,” said McGinnity. “We do feel we’ve reached a point where we are seeing stabilization in the digestion process.
“We continue to monitor and adjust operations as required,” she said.
McGinnity noted that as processes with Digestor 1 are nearly completed, there are plans to begin maintenance on Digestor 2. She noted there is some damage to the roof of the second digestor due to the December event.
“Unfortunately, there could be some odours associated with that,” said McGinnity, noting the work was planned to start this week and take about two weeks.
Coun. Deb Doherty asked how long the stabilization of the process would take on the second digestor. McGinnity noted it could take a couple of months.
“Given the potential for some odours emanating during the summer season when the water is in heavy use and people are outdoors, is there any possibility it could postponed until the fall?” asked Doherty.
McGinnity said the clean out could still occur starting this week, and staff could look at postponing recommissioning the digestor (which is the cause of the odours) during the off-season.
“It’s the clean out that we need to get done as soon as possible,” clarified McGinnity. “We can take it under advisement. If we feel there’s a conflict, we can bring it back to council for further advisement.”
