Parkland Sanitary District tackles odor issues

The Parkland Sanitary District is taking steps to prevent odor issues related to its new sanitary sewer system.

The city’s Plan Commission on Wednesday approved a special use permit that will allow the sanitary district to proceed with its plans to address those concerns.

After learning of issues that developed in January the district made the decision to alter the way it manages wastewater to prevent odors from becoming an issue.

The district plans to build a 10-by-12 foot building to manage odor with chemicals or an air handling system when other systems fail or the district isn’t allowed to release wastewater to the city sewer system for several days at a time, according to Eric Schaffer of the Parkland Sanitary District No. 1.

Parkland’s agreement with the city of Superior for wastewater treatment disallows release of wastewater to the city system during wet weather events that could overwhelm Superior’s sewer system.

The sanitary district serves about 330 homes in the town immediately south of Superior. Wastewater collected from the homes is pumped to the city’s sanitary system for treatment at the wastewater facility in the city. Parkland’s discharge into the city system is made in the alley between East Second and East Third streets at roughly 53rd Avenue East.

“Due to the fairly low flows we experience out there and high sulfur concentrations in people’s well water, we experience hydrogen sulfide odors,” Schaffer said. “To abate that, we are currently feeding chemical at our pumping station. We intend to pump chemical permanently.”

The Parkland Sanitary District anticipates spending about $200,000 to address the odor issue. The facility the district plans to build on land it’s buying from Douglas County accounts for an estimated $50,000 of those total costs. The sanitary district also plans to have a permanent chemical feed added to the system.

“The purpose of the building we’re looking at here is on the rare occasion our chemical system fails or we have to use our holding pond for extended periods of time … we would have a backup plan in place to keep odors from originating in the city of Superior,” Schaffer said.

While things went well last fall when the Parkland sanitary system went online, around January, the district became aware of odor problems at the connection to the city’s system. That’s when the district began using chemicals on a full-time basis, abating the problem, Schaffer said.

Mayor Bruce Hagen said he received a call from a resident whose father lives in the area about an odor in his home. He said he approached the sanitary district with those concerns and was pleased with the district’s responsiveness to the issue.

Schaffer said the facility is intended to be a backup to the permanent chemical feeding system to keep residents in the area from experiencing any more odors.

“All we’re looking to do is reinforce the system so we maintain our good neighborly relationship between the sanitary district and the city of Superior,” Schaffer said.

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