Turbulent Stink And Grit And Scum At Owl’s Head

Stink still not resolved. DEP on the defensive:

At a town hall meeting organized by Community Board 10, State Senator Marty Golden and City Councilmember Vincent Gentile, representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) faced the crowd almost sheepishly, acknowledging long-standing shortcomings in their handling of the operation of the plant and the smells that have fouled the community’s air. Of all of DEP’s 14 wastewater treatment facilities, the Owls Head plant has recorded the most complaints.

“We apologize for the quality-of-life impact of the plant on the community,” Mark Lanaghan, assistant commissioner of intergovernmental relations for DEP told the crowd gathered in the auditorium of Xaverian High School, 7100 Shore Road. “It doesn’t have to be like that. It hasn’t always been like that, and it won’t always be like that.”

. . .

Said Vincent Sapienza, assistant commissioner at DEP’s Bureau of Wastewater Treatment, the agency is currently covering the plant’s primary settling tank launders, where turbulence during the first stage of treatment causes a high level of noxious odor. The covers, which are constructed of steel beams and laminated plywood, are being installed with the expectation that they will last several years till a permanent solution can be created, Sapienza said.

In addition, according to Sapienza, the agency is in the first steps of “design(ing) an odor control system” for the primary settling tanks, which also appear to be responsible for emanations of odors into the community. The first step, he said, is getting a contractor to “model” an appropriate system, then to build it.

We should assume (hopefully!) that this next part contains a typo:

Other steps the agency is taking include putting out for bid once again the $20 extension of the facility’s grit and scum building. This will enable tanks stored in the open air, to be enclosed. The contract for this work is expected to be awarded in early 2007, with containers stored indoors by late 2009.

$20?