Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JACKIE RIPLEYWithin 30 days, county officials hope to wipe out the odor that's been wafting into back yards from a sewage treatment plant.
TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Cookouts at the Cox household can be a lot of things - among them, embarrassing. That's because Herbert Cox holds his backyard barbecues in the shadow of a sewage treatment plant.
And the odor lately has been more pungent than usual.
"People say, "Eeeyu, what's that smell?' "Cox said. "They want to know how I deal with it."
Philosophically, in Cox's case. He has lived in his home on River Oaks Drive for 32 years and has seen a lot of changes. He remembers when the River Oaks Wastewater Treatment Plant was a small facility at Waters Avenue and Sheldon Road, built to treat the sewage of a much smaller community. Over the years he has watched it grow to the behemoth it is today, handling wastewater from as far away as Westchase.
"Sometimes it gets really nasty, depending on which way the wind blows," Cox said.
County officials say they know the smell coming from River Oaks is worse than usual and that they are working to fix the problem.
Odor problems at the plant, however, are nothing new. Engineers have been trying to find the technology to control the odor at River Oaks for 13 years. The problem is exacerbated by the high volume of sewage the plant handles as well as its proximity to houses.
"We're trying to be a good neighbor," said Darrell Milligan, odor control program coordinator for the county water department. "The county is set up to respond to customers, and we're doing what we have to do to mitigate problems."
Milligan said recent difficulties at the plant can be traced to three equipment malfunctions, the first of which has already been fixed. That project entailed replacing equipment that removes the odor from wastewater.
The process of solving the second problem has been off and on because workers have had to take one of the primary settling tanks out of service for maintenance - a procedure that causes temporary but noticeable odors. The third problem deals with chemicals used to treat wastewater, which are producing their own unpleasant odor.
Milligan said he expects all of the odor difficulties to be fixed within 30 days. However, he welcomes any calls to his office from neighbors concerned about the odor.
Milligan can be reached at (813) 744-5711, extension 345.
- Jackie Ripley can be reached at 813 269-5308 or ripley@sptimes.com