City of St. Thomas

The sewage treatment Plant treats sewage for all of St. Thomas and surrounding areas which is 40,000+ residents.  There will always be some outdoor associated with the treatment of raw sewage.  Weather and wind direction have a major impact when odours may be detected from various local sources.

Yes.  Other common odour sources include local area farms spreading manure, odours from local area landfills, and garbage/compost collection can also be detected from time to time.

Odour from a sewage treatment plant is normal and unavoidable.  Any received reports of odour are forwarded from the St. Thomas Customer Service Request System to the Wastewater Pollution Control Plan for evaluation.  City staff document the report and survey the Wastewater Pollution Control Plant often including the street address where the report was received in order to document any direct sources of odour.  City staff are then required by law to forward any complaints to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for their records.

No. Every odour complaint is already documented and reported to the MECP by the City Staff.