Sewage stinking hot

And some of it might be explained by a letter sent mid-January to neighbouring residents applauding the completion of major construction work to the Young Sewage Treatment Plant.

The letter from Young Shire Council’s ultilities director Nicole Vonarx also apologized for the odour emanating from the facility. 

“Amid the finishing touches and ongoing adjustments and improvements to the operation of the plant,” Ms Vonarx explains, “there is still legacy sludge remaining after the old trickle filter plant was decommissioned.”

“Council were required to build an additional pond during the construction of the new plant to hold all of this waste material and due to its age and biological composition the only way to treat this is to allow time in the pond to decompose before it can be dewatered and moved offsite,” Ms Vonarx  explained.

She said the warmer temperatures had been effective in causing the material to react faster – but resulted in a stronger odour. Recent strong winds, she added, had caused the smell to move offsite.

Council is currently investigating alternative treatment options to fast-track the process.

With that providing a partial explanation for the cause of the smells out west, Woolworths Supermarket manager Angela Nicholls said customers had also complained of a smell.

She said she investigated the matter herself, wasn’t able to detect the offensive odour, but as a precautionary measure had called a plumber out to have the drains flushed on Wednesday this week.

“It’s normal for us to do that and have the grease traps flushed monthly, but with this heat I just think it might be causing a buildup of gases in the lines,” she said.

She did say that customers had complained about the public toilets located near the Woolworths carpark.

Which brings us back to Nicole Vonarx.