South winds, wet ground and a winter’s worth of sludge made for a smelly few days on the south side of Newton.
The City of Newton, as it regularly does, distributed a byproduct of its was wastewater treatment plant, what they call “sludge”, on a city-owned field to be used as fertilizer. Normally the sludge, is disced into the field soon after. However, according to city public information officer Erin McDaniel, the field was too wet for the farmer to get into immediately.
“That was the issue,” she said. “The wind was coming out of the wrong direction. It’s unfortunate.
It’s not the city’s intention to stink up the town.”The sludged field, Southeast of B&B Lumber near the intersection of First and Meridian Streets, made for a Tuesday that plain stunk, according to manager Greg Hanson.
“I grew up on a dairy farm,” he said. “I’ve been around cows. This was perplexing because it was the most malodorous odor I’ve ever experienced.”He said he had every candle lit as well as a recently purchased popcorn machine running in the store to try to overpower the smell of the sludge.
Hanson contacted the city about the issue and posted about it on the company’s social media page.“I do want to praise the city,” he said. “They were very responsive and I’d like to let them know I appreciate it.
(Read more: Newton Now)