Reservation Stink Not Sewage

Millburn Fire Battalion Chief Ed Wade said Friday the smell is a product of natural degradation and occurs at the bottom of the nearby East Orange Water Company Reservoir when there are temperature changes. It's not sewage, he said, and will naturally resolve itself. No clean-up action is required.

State DEP representatives told Millburn-Short Hills Patch earlier this week that the source of the odor was sewage.

Millburn firefighters were first called to the area off of Brookside Drive near the West Orange border on Sept. 10. The Nutley Hazmat team was called to the scene, but had to suspend operations until Sept. 11 because of a lack of light.

The hazmat team determined the source was not chemical in nature and referred the incident to the DEP. State officials turned the matter over to the county Health Department.