Equipment failure at a Saskatoon waste facility raises powerful rotten egg smell

(Chad Hills / CTV News)

Derek Hannenson’s business is facing a smelly situation.

“Customers do come get a whiff of this, and it’s like rotten eggs. And it’s from the city’s own sewer,” said Hannenson, who owns Hannenson Construction in Saskatoon’s north end.

“It never was there until they built this facility. It needs to be moved. It needs to put some pipe in the ground, move it somewhere else.”

The smell is coming from the city’s Marquis Waste Facility. Specifically, it’s from hydrogen sulfide gas — also known as H2S — being emitted from the facility.

According to Saskatoon’s Director of Water Russ Munro, the smell is a result of mechanical failure.

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“There’s an air scrubbing system that’s in there that’s designed to remove hydrogen sulfide, as well as the odors that come from the sewer. We’ve run into some problems,” Munro said.

“It’s not working as intended.”

According to Munro, the moisture required in the process of removing hydrogen sulfide is taking a toll on the facility’s equipment.

“We use some of the same micro-organisms we use at the wastewater treatment plant to treat it. And it does the removal of that gas. It needs to be wet to work effectively,” Munro said.

“That water, when it reacts with the bugs, removes the hydrogen sulfide; creates a sulfuric acid. And what’s happening is, it’s corroding the equipment, I think more than perhaps the design firm anticipated. And that’s causing mechanical problems for us.”

For Hannenson, the issue is more than just an inconvenience, it’s a loss of revenue.

“It becomes catastrophic because our building becomes worthless ... I have customers that come that are just overwhelmed,” Hannenson told council during his presentation at city hall on Tuesday.

The city is currently looking at plans to fix the issue. An estimated $1.4 million will be required for the project, to be proposed in the upcoming budget.

“We’re looking at some designs that would solve that sort of root issue, because as those pumps fail and the bottom water builds up, plugs the filters, the whole system doesn’t work,” Munro said.

Hannenson shared that while he’s thankful the city has acknowledged the issue, he worries that the solution will not come anytime soon.

“It is relevant and the city knows and they’ve been very polite saying this, but this is going to take — if the city admits two to thee years, you know it’s going to take five to 10, and it should be addressed a lot faster,” Hannenson said.

Hydrogen sulfide can be extremely dangerous in higher concentrations, but Munro says the city is keeping a close eye on any emissions coming from the waste facility.

“People can detect it at a very low level,” Munro said.

“We have online monitoring in the facility. It’s monitored 24/7 by the control room at the wastewater treatment plant. And we will alarm at ten parts per million,” he said.

“It won’t be hazardous to health until about 100 parts per million. We have the procedures in place. There’s also ventilation in there. It goes out a ventilation stack — not ideal, but it does dilute it down to safe levels.”