Stamford Will Soon Smell Better

The neighborhood that surrounds Stamford’s sewage treatment plant will soon stink a lot less. The city is almost finished with its $105 million sewage plant reconstruction project, and it includes a $6 million odor-control component, which should be completed by the end of August. When I first toured the plant, 17 years ago, Jeanette Brown (who was then Jeanette Semon) excused the smell by saying it was inevitable. Obviously, a lot changes in 17 years and soon the smell will be gone, which is good news for Stamford.

I went back to the plant last August to interview Jeanette, who runs the treatment plant operation, for a magazine article, and she gave me some even better news – the upgrade will result in improved nitrogen-removal capabilities at the plant, which was already one of the best on the Sound. By the beginning of 2005, Jeanette told me, the Stamford plant will already have exceeded the 2014 nitrogen reduction goals set by the Long Island Sound Study. Stamford’s 20 million gallons a day are a mere drop, but when everyone else follows it will mean a healthier ecosystem. Or so we hope.