Wet Weather Basin Odor Control: The Trend of the Future?

The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) of Louisville, Kentucky has entered into a Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and eliminate Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs). As a result, MSD is constructing many wet weather equalization basins. The largest basin system currently planned by MSD, known as the Buechel Basin, has 109 million gallons (MG) of wet weather storage capacity and is expected to eliminate 19 upstream SSOs.The Buechel Basin project faced many challenges, including opposition from the owners of a neighboring warehouse who owned the property necessary for construction of the basin as well as opposition from a residential neighborhood group. These neighboring owners expressed strong concerns about the potential for off-site odors. In order to address their concerns and to complete acquisition of the necessary easements so that MSD could acquire the property, MSD agreed to install and maintain odor control systems and perform odor monitoring. This was all specified in a legal settlement agreement with the property owners to avoid condemnation of the property and to keep the project’s schedule on track.This paper will describe the steps that had to be taken to satisfy the adjacent landowners. A description of the odor control systems and available test results will be provided test results will be presented. A comparison of odor control plans for MSD’s various basins will also be included.