Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley has now asked the province to shut down a waste transfer site in the border city’s south that has been the source of dozens of odor complaints in recent months.
Bradley sent a letter this week to the district manager of Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks about the site where Brantford-based Wessuc stores waste – mostly sewage biosolids also known as sludge – in former sewage lagoons the company bought from the city in 2020 .
Wessuc stores the sludge in these Scott Road lagoons until it can be spread on farm fields as fertilizer.
“Since starting operations in the spring, the site has continually been a source of disgusting and nauseating odors for the citizens of Sarnia,” Bradley wrote in his letter.
During a late-June council meeting, Bradley warned the company that a request to close the site was the likely next step if odor complaints persisted.
While the company has tried a number of fixes, including an improved water “cap” to keep the stinky material from hitting the air and creating a stench, applied odor suppressants and consultations with odor specialists, “nothing seemed to have worked,” Bradley said .
“It was a clear message then,” the mayor said.
Bradley said he received more complaints about odors from residents across the city, particularly when a heat wave settled in during the middle of the week.
“It’s overwhelming for people,” he said.
In his letter, Bradley noted the Environment Ministry has the legal authority to shut down operations at the site while city council has its hands tied.
“I am imploring you to act quickly to shut down Wessuc until they resolve all the issues, so the people of Sarnia are no longer inflicted with this nauseating odor on a regular basis, particularly in the hot weather,” Bradley’s letter says.
Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said in an email the ministry is taking the odor issue “very seriously.”
He said the site stopped receiving material in mid-June and the number of odor complaints has declined.
“The company is also developing an action plan to address odors and will increase air monitoring to assess community impacts as they work to resolve their operational challenges,” Wheeler said.
“The ministry continues to respond to the occasional odor complaint and will ensure the company takes the necessary action to address the concerns.”
Since the spring, both the city and the ministry have received numerous complaints about odors from the site. At the same late-June where Bradley issued his warning, Adrian Simpson, a Wessuc representative, outlined the steps the company was taking to get rid of the stink.
“We’re getting real close to what I think would be a solution, where we can present the neighbors with an odor-free backyard,” he said.
Bradley noted other municipalities have faced issues with odor complaints about sewage sludge being stored before it’s applied on farmland.
“I think the province needs to look at some control” of the practice, he said.