News Briefs: City Seeks to Strike Out Odor Near Ballpark

In this week’s news briefs, Sioux City addresses its hydrogen sulfide problem and a photo of a Louisiana water tower destroyed by a tornado surfaces online.
News Briefs: City Seeks to Strike Out Odor Near Ballpark

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By addressing the “rotten egg” smell near its minor league baseball stadium, Sioux City, Iowa, hopes to put to rest the city’s unflattering “Sewer City” moniker once and for all.

The Sioux City Journal reports that the odor, which emanates from the York Street lift station, can be smelled from miles away and is even worse for fans attending Sioux City Explorers baseball games at nearby Lewis & Clark Park.

“It is primarily hydrogen sulfide,” Mark Simms, the city’s utilities director, tells the newspaper. “There can be other offending odors that come out” of the lift station.

According to the report, the city already spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on chemicals such as chlorine to reduce hydrogen sulfide levels, but that does not necessarily get rid of the smells. Recently, the department removed rock and sand from the lift station, which can act as sponges for odors and bacteria.

City officials are again looking to be proactive with opening day right around the corner. Simms says they will ask the council for funding to pay Atlanta-based US Peroxide LLC to reduce odors at the York lift station, a move that helped reduce odors at two other lift stations in the city in 2012.

“We’ve had a trial conducted by the same company that’s doing odor control in other areas,” he says. “It seems to be reasonably successful. I would anticipate we will try to get the funding to be able to start doing odor control out of the York lift station yet this spring.”

Residents who smell an odor in Sioux City can still call the 24-hour Odor Hotline Service created in 1992.

Source: Sioux City Journal

Tornado Takes Out Water Tower
A 150,000-gallon water tower in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, was destroyed after several tornadoes touched down in the southern part of the state and Mississippi on Tuesday.

A photo of the devastation was posted to the Facebook group Water/Wastewater Plant Operators of World, Unite! by Brandi Landry, operator at Assumption Parish Waterworks.


Photo: Facebook.com/Brandi Landry

“Looks like 1/4-inch shell torn like a sardine can. This tower must have taken a direct hit,” comments Mike McGinnis.

Many in the online community were concerned and offered assistance.

“Yikes. Hopefully there’s VFDs on the supply pumps or at least reliable PRVs? Good luck!” says Mike Furry.

Landry says the district has three other towers, including three million gallons of storage plus a clear well, but they are “constantly pushing from the plant into distribution.” She estimates the tower was built around 1958.

In addition to widespread damage to homes and buildings, Yahoo! News reports at least three people have died and more than 30 were injured during the storms.

Source: Facebook, Yahoo! News

New York Launches Statewide Water Quality Initiatives
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced a series of aggressive water-quality initiatives, including the creation of a statewide Water Quality Rapid Response Team.

The team is charged with identifying and developing plans to address drinking water contamination, as well as groundwater and surface water contamination, and preparing an action plan to “immediately address water-quality issues raised by municipalities and concerned citizens.”

“Every New Yorker has a fundamental right to clean and safe drinking water,” Gov. Cuomo says. “Water is a priceless resource that requires the highest levels of protection, and I am proud to continue this administration’s legacy of standing up for the environment.”

Source: NY.gov



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