With continued construction delays, how long will the College Township odor continue?
After several delays to fix an odor residents have described as “unbearable” in College Township, the University Area Joint Authority hopes its new odor control facility will finally be up and running this month.
In 2018, UAJA announced that the $10 million construction project would address a smell created by a biofilter that worked to reduce smells created by the compost facility. With an initial anticipated July 2019 completion date, the project deadline was extended to mid-October, then November and now, January.
“Due to unacceptable materials being provided for the completion of the project, the new UAJA odor control facility is now scheduled to go online in January 2020,” according to a project update. “UAJA is working diligently with the project’s general contractor to ensure that acceptable materials are provided for the project’s completion in a timely fashion.”
UAJA Executive Director Cory Miller did not respond to requests for comment.
UAJA initially planned to build an entirely new facility while also using its old one, but that plan was almost $3.5 million over the estimated budget, so officials decided to construct a new building on top of the old facility — leaving the treatment facility without odor control and the project running behind schedule. The demolition of the facility, located on Spring Valley Road, occurred in December 2018.
In June, Miller told the CDT that UAJA tried to schedule construction work during the winter, when less people are outside. Over the summer, Miller said UAJA saw an increase in resident complaints about odors coming from the facility. Project delays were the result of weather conditions and material delivery problems.
Once complete, the new facility will include a completely contained concrete box. The dewatering and compost facilities will be piped to the new facility. Once the air has been deodorized, it will be sent through an exhaust tower and released into the atmosphere, according to Miller.
“Once the project is complete, the design is supposed to eliminate odors before it even goes up the stack,” Miller said. “So except for really extreme conditions, there should be no traceable odors leaving our property.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 8:34 AM.
