El Paso Implements Odor Control Improvements to Remain a 'Good Neighbor'

摘要

Located in central El Paso, TX, with a cluster of homes 450 feet from its Headworks, a residential subdivision 1,200 feet from its Dewatering Building, the international border with Mexico on its southern boundary, with long interceptors, and warm weather, El Paso Water Utilities' (EPW's) Haskell WWTP has a long-running, agile posture on odor control. As Haskell's major odor control facilities approached 20 years of service in 2012, EPW initiated investigations into the status of the existing odor control systems to assess their current performance and determine whether the technology was able to meet the odor control demands of the short and long term. On-site odor studies identified the Headworks Building. Dewatering Building, Grit Building, and Primary Clarifiers as having the highest current offsite odor impact. Technology upgrades, moving from the existing mist wet scrubbers to biotrickling filters, were recommended. By 2016, capital upgrades to those four odor control facilities were planned, and 2 of the 4 sites were already under construction when a spat of neighborhood odor complaints from around the collection system and the facility prompted EPW to respond with focused interim O&M mitigation measures and community outreach.