At times, the air over Glade Park is neither floral nor fresh. Instead, it’s pungent and wafts with a stench reminiscent of rotten eggs.
Tenants of the mobile home park have issued repeated and continued protests over the nose-holding odor generated at the nearby Cortez Sanitation District wastewater treatment facility for years. About 70 miles of sewage lines converge next to the mobile home park to feed the treatment plant.
“All of the towns sewer comes right by here,” said Glade Park Manager Brenda Henson.
Henson said she has made numerous grievances and attended several CSD board meetings since the state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility was constructed in 2006. She filed her last complaint earlier this month.
“Any time we call, they try to alleviate the problem,” she said.
There are a total of 18 residences within Glade Park. Some are within 300 feet of the head works entering the $10 million wastewater treatment facility.
According to CSD manager Tim Krebs, officials have pumped some $150,000 to remedy the dispute by covering the wastewater inflow channel, installing charcoal air scrubbers and enhancing pump operations.
“The district has done everything that can be done to alleviate the odors,” he said.
CSD officials say a Seventh Street lift station, which serves to pump wastewater to the treatment plant, could be the latest source of the hydrogen sulfide odors, Krebs said.
In a memo to CSD board members, Krebs wrote he was prepared to tell residents that stenches could remain in the future because of changes in wind direction.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com