- A Tremonton wastewater mishap caused a foul odor affecting the town's south end last week.
- Public works director Carl Mackley suggests chemicals killed beneficial bacteria-processing waste, leading to the stench.
- The city plans upgrades this summer to improve oxygenation and sewage processing systems.
TREMONTON — A mishap at a city wastewater treatment plant caused a big stink across the south end of town last week.
Heidi Call said her family smelled it as they were leaving town.
"My husband thought my daughter passed gas. I thought he passed. It was like, 'Oh, somebody stinks,'" Call explained. "If you've ever been in a bathroom after like a bunch of athletes have been using the same restroom for hours, or a really nasty Porta-Potti that hasn't ever been cleaned, was kind of like the whiff that we smelled."
While the odor has greatly improved since then, the problem at the heart of the matter persists, according to Tremonton's public works director Carl Mackley.
He said the good bacteria in the system that help process the waste are dying off.
"Whatever happened, maybe a large amount of soap or some chemical came down the line and killed everything off," Mackley explained. "That's the only thing that can explain it."
Mackley said the chemical doesn't appear to be illegal or toxic, but it's large enough that it must have come from a business or some kind of large facility.
"We cannot help what people put down the drain," Mackley said. "I just appreciate the fact that almost every single day of the year nobody knows we exist because we are just doing our job, and we're still doing our job, but now we just have this extra hiccup to deal with."
Mackley said workers brought in more of the good bacteria, which they call bugs, from the sewage treatment plant in Brigham City, but there are signs that they, too, are not getting enough oxygen and are dying off.
He said they will bring in extra tools to better oxygenate the plant: pontoon-like devices, with motorized propellers, that will bring air bubbles into the pools.
Meantime, Mackley said the issue has nothing to do with growth. The city dealt with a similar issue in December 2020.
Starting this summer, the plant will get a major upgrade installed that will help with better oxygenation and process the sewage.
