A major contributor to the recent odor problem came from the waste sent to the plant from New Hope, officials said
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — A “perfect storm” of incidents caused the release of strong and nasty sewer odors that wafted through Lambertville in March and April, according to officials at the city’s sewerage authority.
”Critical equipment” went down, and a fire took out an element of the odor-control system, according to Executive Director James Meehan. Another component came from the waste shipped from New Hope to be treated in Lambertville, he said.
Residents have called the authority’s odor hotline with numerous complaints. The authority logged 45 hours of overtime in March just answering phone calls about the foul odors, Mr. Meehan said.
Operators who took the calls then called Mr. Meehan at home if it was after business hours, and he directed the actions that were taken to snuff out the smells.
”The next day, we’re at it again,” he said. “We fight these difficult problems every day.”
Mr. Meehan spoke with an audience of about 25 residents who gathered at the Justice Center on South Union Street April 9 to learn more about the problem and what is being done to correct it.
The Lambertville Sewerage Authority recently was transformed into the Lambertville Municipal Utilities Authority (LMUA).
Along with Mr. Meehan, attendees included the board of the LMUA, the mayor and the city’s governing body.
The sewerage plant in Lambertville also treats waste from Stockton and New Hope.
A major contributor to the recent odor problem came from the waste sent to the plant from New Hope, officials said.
New Hope sent a “high-influent load,” Mr. Meehan said. Influent is what flows into the system.
In other words, according to board Chairman Rick Buscavage, “There’s a lot of poop in there. It smells.”
While the comment drew laughter over the thought of Lambertville’s neighbor being full of poop, the audience didn’t find the problem itself amusing. In fact, during the meeting, a woman entered from the street to tell the board the odor was occurring at that moment, saving herself a phone call to the hotline.
According to Mr. Meehan, the high-influent load from New Hope could have resulted from the fact New Hope hosts more than 40 restaurants, a brewery and a laundry, all of which could influence the quality of the load.
He emphasized that New Hope, once notified, immediately took steps to stave off the problem, such as making sure restaurants’ grease traps are cleaned out rather than dumped into the system. In another case, a laundry was operating “illegally,” according to LMUA board member Mary Venettone.
”They moved their operation to Philly,” she said.
”There are many problems,” Mr. Meehan said. “This is one, but we’ve caught it.”
Lambertville Mayor David Del Vecchio agreed to follow up with a letter and a phone call to New Hope Mayor Laurence Keller.
The LMUA is trying to win some federal stimulus money to improve the plant, which was built in 1954. The planned upgrades will total $6.2 million.
The upgrades will include automated sludge removal and the replacement of eight rotating biological contactors, or RBCs. The RBCs will account for about 30 percent of the cost. They will require retrofitting of drives, airlines and blowers.
If the MUA fails to win the stimulus funds, it would need to bond at least a portion of the funds to get the old plant in shape, officials said.
The upgrades could take two to two and a half years to complete, Mr. Buscavage said.
In the meantime, the LMUA has increased chemical conditioning and repaired the process that mixes and removes sludge. Also, a replacement mister is on order. In addition, the MUA will continue to “police” the strength of the influent from New Hope.
The 24-hour, toll-free odor hotline is 888-214-6830.
[email protected].

