PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (AP) - Pleasant Grove officials say they're fed up with the odor at the local sewer plant and they want something done about it.
The City Council is asking the Timpanogos Special Service District and Utah County commissioners to end the onsite composting that causes the smell.
Council members said their city is known for the odor, and it's hampering economic development efforts.
"There are $350 million worth of projects that would like to come to Pleasant Grove but are holding off because of the smell,"
Councilman Val Danklef told The Daily Herald of Provo.
Sewer officials said their $16 million plan to construct buildings around portions of the plant would all but eliminate the problem.
They said the waste would be composted under huge industrial canvasses, using a forced air system to dramatically speed up the process and leaving behind compost that is similar in smell to compost at gardening stores.
But Pleasant Grove council members said that won't be enough.
"The only solution is to do what other responsible cities and counties in Utah have done: either eliminate composting completely or move it offsite to a remote location," the council said in a news release.
Sewer district officials said that would prove very expensive to about 200,000 people in the northern part of the county. The
district reduces its costs by millions of dollars a year by composting the waste onsite.
They have pointed out that the sewer plant was in place long before Pleasant Grove and American Fork began allowing homes and businesses to be built next to it.
Pleasant Grove officials maintain adjacent property owners have a right to use their land and the residents of the north county must foot the bill to solve the problem.
Those residents "contribute to the problem, but experience none of the foul, nauseating effects," the council said.
Information from: The Daily Herald
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