Point Richmond residents are demanding action Tuesday after days of a foul smell coming from the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
The smell has gotten so bad, residents say it’s triggering health issues including watery eyes, headaches, and nausea.
“Imagine the worst possible sewer backed up you can possibly imagine,” said Philip Rosenthal of Point Richmond.
“To the point of where it’s so strong, it’ll make your eyes water. It’s like living on a manure pile,” said Edie Alderette-Sellers, Richmond Point resident.
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That’s how residents describe the awful odors that have been emanating from the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Last week it got so bad, alerts were issued indicating hydrogen sulfide levels had risen up to five times higher than normal.
“It smells like poop. It smells like whatever people had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner a couple of days ago and we don’t want that anymore,” said Richmond City Councilmember Cesar Zepeda. “It’s a horrible smell. Some of the residents that reached out to me were asking if they should evacuate their homes.”
Zepeda says Veolia Services, the company that operates the plant, didn't respond to the city's questions for more than 30 hours.
In a statement, Veolia Services said the odors were a result of construction to replace an outdated fan that included draining a wastewater process tank.
Veolia’s Regional managers will answer questions at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
“We’re going to be demanding answers and we’re going to be demanding them giving us a proper next steps and how are they going to prevent this from happening ever in the city?” said Zepeda.
While the odors reached unbearable levels last week, residents say they’ve been dealing with foul smells from the plant for years, and they want the stink to stop.
“We’re in a situation now where even within our homes, we smell this odor. Most of us live in older homes, few of us have air conditioning or air purification systems and this just seeps inside our houses to the extent that, even when we keep our windows closed, which we have to do so, we can't sleep at night,” said Rosenthal.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this when it is bad, it is so strong it makes your eyes water, it makes you gag. For some people, it has made them vomit. It’s absolutely beyond the pale of anything I’ve ever experienced,” said Alderette-Sellers.
