MOORESVILLE — People in Mooresville are plugging their noses because of a persistently stinky situation from the town's wastewater treatment plant. The town is still figuring out how to stop the smell.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management investigated White Lick Creek and the Martinsville Wastewater Treatment Plant on Nov. 12 at the urging of plant superintendent Calvin Boultbee. IDEM's investigation found "obvious signs of solids being discharged into the receiving stream."
The IDEM investigation further explained that the odor "appears to be due to ongoing high-strength industrial wastestreams received."
Neighbors who live downstream from the treatment plant say they are sick of smelling sewage in the morning.
"I would describe it as an open sewer," said Gene Deverick, who has lived in his home along White Lick Creek for more than 30 years. "It's the worst kind of bathroom smell you can think of."
"It's pungent," said Deverick's neighbor Kelli Day. "At night when I sleep in my back bedroom, I have to put Vicks under my nose."
Mooresville Town Council discussed a plan for addressing the sewage during their meeting Tuesday night.
"We're receiving inflow with chemical compounds we have never seen before," Mooresville Town Council president Tom Warthen explained in the meeting. "Our superintendent has worked here for 30 years and has never seen these levels."
This is the second time Mooresville's wastewater treatment plant has sent the smell of sewage downstream. During a phone interview with WRTV, Warthen explained the town first discovered the sewage issue during Memorial Day Weekend. The town and IDEM believed they fixed the problem, but the smell came back a month after the fix.
Warthen told WRTV that the wastewater treament plant, IDEM, contractors with HTNB, and the Indiana Rural Water Association are working to stop the smell for good. He said it would "not be a quick fix," but they are committed to figuring out the issue.
