Residents living near Dubuque’s wastewater treatment plant recently complained about the smell emanating from the facility.

During a city budget hearing held on Wednesday, residents claimed the foul smell coming from Dubuque Water & Resource Recovery Center has worsened in the past two years. Staff members of the center presented their budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, which begins on July 1. Part of that budget presentation included plans to investigate and reduce the smell reaching the homes of residents.

The Water & Resource Recovery Center cleans the city’s wastewater and, with the completion of a facility upgrade in 2013, uses an anaerobic digestion system to break down sewage sludge and high-strength waste compounds supplied by local manufacturers.

James Klauer, who lives near the facility on South Grandview Avenue, said the center has always emanated an unwelcome smell, but in the past two years, it has become more prominent and severe.

“For a number of years since the facility was upgraded, it (the smell) was almost non-existent,” Klauer said. “In the last two or three years, it has become more frequent and almost unbearable.”

Brad Plummer, who also lives near the center, said there have been several instances where he was forced to retreat indoors from his yard to escape from the smell.

Water & Resource Recovery Center Manager William O’Brien said he was uncertain why the center is more odorous recently, adding that it could come from increases in hydrogen sulfide found in biogas produced from the center’s anaerobic digestion.

In response to increased demand from local manufacturers, City Council members voted in February to begin searching for a consultant to design an estimated $3 million in improvements to the center’s anaerobic digestion system, which would effectively expand the center’s ability to store and process solid waste.

O’Brien said part of that consultant work will include identifying potential improvements to the center that could reduce the smell impacting residents. He added that air and water samples will also be tested to determine the source of the odor.

The city must approve its fiscal year 2023 budget by March 29.

Other highlights from the budget session included the following:

Dubuque City Council departmental budget public hearings will be held throughout March at the council chambers in the Historic Federal Building. The sessions also will be aired live on CityChannel Dubuque (Mediacom cable channels 8 and 117.2), streamed live and archived on the city’s website and streamed live on the city’s Facebook page.

They all begin at 6:30 p.m. The schedule for the remaining meetings is:

March 29: final hearing to adopt the fiscal year 2023 budget.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.