Facility

Meadowbrook-Limestone Wastewater Treatment Plant

Projects

Odors are a common issue at wastewater facilities and, for the past decade, WEP has initiated capital projects at all of its facilities without odor control systems to be a better neighbor. WEP’s odor control project at the Meadowbrook-Limestone Wastewater Treatment Plant (MBLS) started in 2021 with a study to locate sources of odor. The Odor Evaluation, completed in 2022, is the basis for our MBLS Odor Control capital project and identified causes of odors and outlined solutions to reduce the unpleasant smells.

Evaluation Highlights

Two sources of odor were identified (See attached location map):

  • Thickened digested sludge holding tanks

       - These tanks hold the organic solids removed from wastewater

         until they hauled to the Metro Syracuse plant for further processing

  • Influent structure/pump building/inlet works

       - After traversing the sewer system, this is the first stop for wastewater at MBLS.

Odors are due to increased levels of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) 

       - This colorless gas is known for a pungent rotten egg smell

       - Also known as sewer gas or swamp gas, H2S occurs naturally in the sewer system

From this report, WEP has been building a game plan to tackle odor issues at MBLS - which will include covering the sludge holding tanks and installing odor treatment systems that will remove the H2S and other odor compounds from the air exhausted from the tanks and the influent building.  This is a modification of the treatment plant operations which is subject to review and approval by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).   We hired a project design engineer in 2023 to prepare all the documents needed for regulatory and funding approvals.