STAC: What's that smell?

St. Thomas Aquinas College evokes the five senses. Good food, clean campus, beautiful trees, friendly chatter amongst classmates, and sometimes a very intriguing smell. It is a smell that passes by but when it comes on campus it is highly noticeable. The source of the smell is from a nearby wastewater treatment plant, located just off campus.

Odors are typically contained on site but depending on weather and wind direction they can drift. Operations at the treatment site are designed to reduce odor but weather conditions can influence its effectiveness.

When the smell passes by, it causes some students to wish they had a bottle of Febreze.

“It’s gross,” said Beijing Martinez.  “It’s not a nice smell. When I first got here I thought it was the sewer system.”

“It’s horrible to walk to class and have to smell that first thing in the morning and then throughout the day,” said Catherine Setteducati.

For other students the smell is simply “the stench of success,” or at least students say with a humorous air.

“That fowl stench, the one that has crept into the heads of the fortunate souls that shuffle about the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas College, has but one source,” said Anthony Espositio.  “And that source is within us all, for it is the collective stench of success.”

That “stench of success” comes from the Rockland County Wastewater Treatment Facility. The plant treats all of Rockland’s wastewater, and is located just off campus. It is a vital part of the community but from time to time, a unique smell can be emitted. During warmer days the smell is most compared to rotten eggs. The odor is actually composed of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds. The smell of sulfur can escape the facility when the temperature begins to rise.

Why? Blame it on the oxygen.

When it is warm outside, the oxygen decreases as the waste water goes through the treatment process causing the water to evaporate. The evaporation of waste water causes a distinct smell that can drift onto campus. Rockland’s wastewater facility is doing all it can to contain the scent but sometimes Mother Nature is not easy to deal with. Here are the steps the facility takes to contain the odor and treat Rockland County’s waste water.

1. First the wastewater enters the Bar Screens. Three screens operate together to remove large solids from the wastewater. This is done so that the solids will not damage plant equipment and processes.
2. Then the waste water enters the Aerated Grit Chamber. It enters the chamber allowing the biodegradable solids to rise to the top and heavier solids to settle on the bottom. 
3. The Primary Settling Tanks collect the sludge that has settled on the bottom while cleaning the surface of the waste water to remove any scum or grease.
4. The waste water then enters the Rotating Biological Contractors. They are made up of six individual rotating units, reaching over 260,000 square feet. Each unit is coated with slime composed of microorganisms that treats the wastewater as it passes through.
5. The water enters the Secondary Settling Tanks and removes any remaining suspended particles from the treated waste water.
6. Finally the treated waste water enters the Chlorine Contact Tank. This is the final disinfection treatment step. The water is treated with chlorine and sodium hypochlorite for 30 minutes. After this step is completed, the treated wastewater flows into the Hudson River.

The facility handles approximately 28.9 million gallons of wastewater every day. It’s a dirty process but there are benefits. Since the facility is so large it can treat a large amount of sewage illuminating the need for more water treatment facilities to be built all over the county.

 Despite the odor some students see great advantages of the facility:

“While it is unfortunate that the great urban planners who designed the sewage treatment plant decided to place it so near the school, it would be so much more unfortunate if there were no plant,” said William Cooper.  “In certain parts of the country, marshes can be used for sewage processing, but the amount of land required is enormous and impractical for use here in Rockland county.”

 If you would like to know more about the facility visit: www.co.rockland.ny.us/sewer/rocklandnysewerdistrict.org