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Nov 20, 2009 8:24 pm US/Eastern
Solution In Sight For Odor In Hanover Township
HANOVER TOWNSHIP (KDKA) ―
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The DEP has been monitoring the situation since September when it ordered the sewage authority to correct the problem by installing temporary equipment to reduce fumes by Friday.
KDKA
A neighborhood in Hanover Township has been gagging on the foul smell of hydrogen sulfide - a gas that is known to cause serious health problems.
"He's missed an excessive amount of school due to illness, severe headaches, flu-like symptoms," Lisa Lightner said.
Like her neighbors, Lightner and her 13-year-old son Kevin have been living with the stench of rotten eggs for months.
She knew the foul smell was coming from the nearby Hanover Township Sewage Authority pumping station.
But last night she turned on her TV and learned that they are breathing hydrogen sulfide - a colorless, toxic, flammable gas.
"I only know from your television yesterday with the news broadcast. We were never notified from anybody," Lightner said.
Friday morning, she called Kevin's pediatrician about the hydrogen sulfide.
"She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that we weren't notified as residents of the area of this," she said.
The doctor didn't mince words.
"And she had advised me to rush him to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh," Lightner said.
Helen Humphreys of the PA Department of Environmental Protection weighed in on hydrogen sulfide.
"It's dangerous. In the levels that we found, the hydrogen sulfide [fumes] are in fact dangerous," she said.
The DEP has been monitoring the situation since September when it ordered the sewage authority to correct the problem by installing temporary equipment to reduce fumes by Friday.
The pumping station was empty Friday afternoon. The Sewage Authority was out of compliance.
Jackson: "You guys are gonna miss your deadline is that right?"
"Yes that's correct," says Richard Soplinski, vice chairman of the authority.
The authority says getting a temporary fix had to be bid out.
"We're gonna get some temporary equipment that we were being held up with," Soplinski said.
That'll be delivered the first week in December. A permanent fix will be ready in six to eight weeks. The cost is $80,000.
"We feel terrible about it from day one. When the odor started we said this is completely unacceptable," Authority Chairman Stephen Kladakis said.
The authority says it realized that the gas is potentially harmful only last month and understands the neighbors' anger.
"I don't disagree with that. We were a little slow moving on – we're not denying that," he said.
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