PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Oshkosh officials say they have developed a potential lead as to what is causing unpleasant smells in parts of the city.
For the past several weeks, dozens of people have been complaining about a foul odor permeating their homes and offices on the south side of Oshkosh. Up until now, the source of the smell has stumped residents and city officials alike.
“Staff from our wastewater treatment plant and our engineering division and other divisions have really been working on this for a couple weeks since we started getting complaints,” Oshkosh Public Works Director James Rabe said on Tuesday
During the course of their investigation, officials have been in contact with the city’s industrial customers. Rabe said they have identified one industry, in particular, that has made a change in their process within the last month.
“That may be contributing to this. We’ve talked to them and they’ve agreed to stop that and go back to how they were doing things to see if that is a contributing factor,” Rabe said. “It’s been so difficult to try to track through the system and to kind of try to pin it down, because it is something so different from what we’ve experienced before.”
Rabe added the recent rain and dramatic drop in temperatures could also play a factor in the intensity of the smell and how noticeable it may be.
We went from 85 degrees to 60 degrees and we went from a couple dry months to getting a fair amount of rain over the weekend. All of those could be contributing.
Rabe said an additional 12-15 reports have been received since Monday evening. The city’s Department of Public Works also posted on social media, asking residents to submit their tips.
“Our pre-treatment coordinator’s got a map on his wall and he’s using push pins, basically, to identify all the locations where they’re experiencing issues and what they’re experiencing, because some of them [the smells] are very different,” Rabe said.
He wants residents to know that their voices are being heard and the city is doing everything it can to fix the issue, but it will likely be a few weeks until they can fully rectify the situation.
“It takes time for the waste and sewer system to clear itself out. From some of the outer reaches of the city, it can take sewage three, four, five days to get from the outer reaches of the city to the plant. All that time, it’s traveling through the pipes. This business that we are working with is a little further out, so it could take even a few days for what they have put in the system to finish working its way out,” Rabe said.
If this lead doesn’t pan out, Rabe assured residents that city officials won’t stop looking for the source of the smell. Still, he’s hopeful there are better days ahead.
“It’s gonna be hard to say definitively, but hopefully all of these things together start to show some improvement,” Rabe said.
If you experience any odd odors, you are asked to email dpw@oshkoshwi.gov and include information about your location and what you’re smelling.
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