Feb 29, 2008 By Steve Ferris 4 min read

The Greater Uniontown Joint Sewage Plant Authority is working with the three municipalities it serves to locate the source of the odor that people living around the plant have been complaining about for the last couple years, authority officials said Thursday. Authority engineer John Schaude III, of Gannett Fleming Inc. of Pittsburgh, told the authority board that he met with representatives from Uniontown, South Union Township and North Union Township earlier in the day to discuss an action plan that was agreed upon last month.

“I was pleased with what they presented,” Schaude said.

The plan involves testing samples from main sewer lines and testing air samples from around the lines in all three municipalities in April and May to pinpoint where odor-producing nitrogen sulfide is being formed, Schaude said.

After the locations are determined, aeration, ventilation or chemicals could be used to reduce or eliminate the odor, he said.

After the board meeting, Schaude said the odor problem primarily occurs during the summer months due to heat and low flow that allows sewage to stagnate in the lines.

Those conditions lead to the formation of nitrogen sulfide in sewer lines, but the odor escapes in the atmosphere when the sewage reaches the wastewater treatment plant and is agitated during treatment, Schaude said.

The problem, he said, is rooted in 2002 when the authority and city entered into consent orders with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The authority was required to expand the plant’s capacity and the city was required to install separate sanitary and storm sewer lines. Previously, the city had a combined sewer system that carried sewage and storm water in the same lines.

Before separate lines were installed, storm water used to flush the lines clean and odors vented from catch basins, said Jim Sampson, board chairman and one of the city’s three representatives on the board.

Now, sewage remains in the lines until it flows to the plant and the nitrogen sulfide odor escapes during treatment, he said.

Schaude said the best method to control the smell is to prevent the formation of odor-producing compounds in the sewage collection system rather than treating the smell at the plant.

In response to odor complaints last summer, the authority rented a pump system that added chemicals to kill the odor at the plant, Sampson said.

However, the chemicals were expensive and 4,000 gallons were used about every two and a half weeks, he said.

The system rental, testing and the chemicals cost about $50,000.

It was that cost, Sampson said, that led the three municipalities to agree to try to find a less expensive solution.

After the testing in the municipalities is completed this summer, the results would be evaluated and cost estimates for the various remedies would be gathered, Schaude said.

The board will decide on a permanent solution to the problem next year, Sampson said.

Schaude said small systems that could add the odor-killing chemical directly into sewer lines where the odor is being produced is one of the possible solutions.

Installing vents in lines in areas away from homes and aerating the sewage in the lines are other possibilities, Schaude said.

The most expensive option is treating the odor at the plant, he said.

In unrelated business, the board approved reserving treatment capacity for 27 equivalent dwelling units (EDU) for a planned 30-home development in Uniontown’s East End.

The Uniontown Redevelopment Authority, Fayette County Community Action Agency and Pearl Development of Ohio are partnering to build the homes for first-time homebuyers. Plans call for building 17 of the homes on an undeveloped lot off Bailey Avenue and 13 more on scattered vacant lots.

In another matter, the board received the EDU allocations for the three municipalities. The municipalities pay a portion of the plant’s operating costs and debt service based on the percentage of EDUs in each municipality.

Uniontown’s percentage dropped from 43.44 in 2006 to 41.9 in 2007, North Union’s increased from 26.82 in 2006 to 27.54 last year and South Union’s increased from 29.74 in 2006 to 30.56 last year.

Each municipality will pay its percentage toward the authority’s $3.2 million 2008 budget.