What is the weird smell near Point Richmond?

Phil Mayer
·2 min read
2

(KRON) — The Bay Area Air Quality Management District received several complaints this week about “sewage-like odors” in the Point Richmond area.

BAAQMD says the pungent smell comes from elevated hydrogen sulfide levels at the City of Richmond’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The air district measured the elevated levels at 9:05 a.m. Tuesday and completed an investigation of the facility two hours later.

“The Air District is closely monitoring an odor issue from the City of Richmond’s wastewater treatment facility. The site has been conducting various onsite planned construction projects that may be the cause of recent rotten egg odors in the Point Richmond area.” BAAQMD said.

More rain on the way to Bay Area

Staff at the wastewater plant said the facility was undergoing scheduled construction involving equipment associated with the wastewater treatment process. Veolia Water West Operating Services, which operates the plant, said it is part of a $42 million project to improve environmental service in Richmond.

Starting Monday, crews replaced an outdated fan and drained a wastewater process tank, Veolia said. Veolia staff has since been using chemicals and chlorinated water to “arrest the odor producing process.”

“In coordination with the City, Veolia carefully scheduled these tasks to take place during the best available construction window in order to complete the project before today’s rains and minimize odor impacts on the surrounding area,” Veolia said.

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Richmond City Councilmember Cesar Zepeda met with Veolia on Wednesday, he said in a statement.

“We will start holding them accountable to our residents and as such they will provide a report detailing the incident, actions they will take to prevent this from happening again and next steps on this project,” he said.

BAAQMD sent its mobile source van to the scene for monitoring purposes. It is evaluating the incident to see if there were any violations of air district regulations.

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