Overwhelming Odor In Glen Ellyn: Wastewater Authority Presents Game Plan

GLEN ELLYN, IL — An unpleasant stench has been pervading parts of Glen Ellyn for weeks now, making it almost impossible for many residents to enjoy summer, but now there many finally be a whiff of resolution in the air. The putrid problem comes from the Glenbard Wastewater Authority (GWA) at 945 Bemis Rd., which is adjacent to Westfield Elementary School. At a public meeting Thursday, GWA announced it had put an indefinite moratorium on its oil, fat, and grease intake program.

According to the GWA , there's a scientific explanation for the stench: two of the plant's digesters —massive thanks that process fats and biosolids into methane— were in what they called an "upset condition." GWA says this is because biosolid deliveries to the plant had been inconsistent for most of the year. Then, in June and July, deliveries picked up to a more consistent level that caused the digesters to effectively get overloaded and become unable to do their work.

The overload caused the biosolids to ferment and cause the digester's pH levels to become less than ideal, which, in turn, caused the air emanating from the plant to become —ahem— less than ideal.

Ahead of Thursday's meeting, Glen Ellyn Village Manager Mark Franz called the smell "an aberration." In a statement, Franz acknowledged that GWA had been working hard to fix the funk over the past five weeks. He said, "Since this is a biological process, the timeframe to improve the odor has taken a number of weeks due to the organisms working at their own rate of recovery.

Putting a halt to the delivery of biosolids, along with adding 50,000 pounds of sodium bicarbonate (yes, that's like 50,000 pounds of Alka-Seltzer) are two big steps GWA has taken. In October, they'll begin hauling biosolids out of the plant two times a week and adding a more consistent pump to the digester process. With those changes in place, village officials and residents hope they can soon breathe a sigh of relief.

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