Scott Twp. officials will use an odor-control solution installed at two township pump stations last month to reduce the smell being emitted by the other three.
Starting this week, officials will begin the process to get land easements near the three remaining pump stations.
If the easements are approved, officials will then install the underground pipe solution, which in less than a month has cut the odor emitted by pump stations No. 6 and No. 8 by at least 80 percent, officials said.
The additions are part of the authority's plan to address a yearlong odor problem caused by the pump stations.
"We wanted to wait and see how effective the solution was before we installed it at every station," said sewer authority Chairman Mike Grant, who acknowledged it could be weeks before they get the easements. "It (the smell) used to hit you in the face; now you to have to look for it."
Though the authority owns the land occupied by the pump stations, the solution requires workers to dig an underground trench that is 3 feet deep, 3 feet wide and at least 20 feet long.
The trench is necessary so the air inside the 20-foot plastic pipe, which is attached to the station's existing vent pipe, can be released underground, sewer authority member and Supervisor Michael Giannetta said.
But in this case, the additional 20 feet required extends past the authority's property.
"When we got the original easements for the pump stations, we never thought we were going to need any more land," Mr. Giannetta said. "It never crossed our mind. But this plan is well worth it, and it's a benefit to everyone in Scott Twp."
About two months after representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection told him the authority needed to address the odor problem, pump station operator Mike Franco said things have been quiet recently.
"I haven't heard from them much since, so I can only assume everything is OK," Mr. Franco said. "They just wanted it to be corrected. It's up to the authority."
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