Residents press council as city outlines long timetable to fix wastewater odor

Newport — City and utility staff told the Newport City Council on Sept. 15 that an ongoing odor problem near the municipal wastewater treatment plant stems from a sludge storage tank and that resolving it will likely require major infrastructure work identified in a planned engineering evaluation.

City wastewater manager Jason Herman told the council the main source is “a sludge storage tank. We have a 700,000 gallon storage tank. It's currently probably holding quarter of a million gallons of sludge.” He said the plant was designed for anaerobic digestion but the equipment to process methane and heat the digesters is no longer operable.

The timeframe matters to residents. “This odor has persisted now for at least 3 years before today,” said Pam Lyons of Newport, one of several neighbors who told the council the smell has made outdoor life and family gatherings difficult. Tia Philip Caskey said the odor keeps her grandson and teenage son from playing outside and described household bills rising in recent months.

Why it matters: city staff said the available short-term fixes are expensive and temporary. Herman described past measures — chemical additions, hiring an outside firm in 2023 to process sludge in a mobile unit, and adjusting an internal mixer — and said none solved the root cause. “Ultimately, what will probably be required is to find a way to get rid of it and allow us to process it faster or start actually using the digesters as they were designed to do so,” he said.

Council members and staff discussed near-term options and costs. Financial consultant Chip Stearns and council members said any substantive capital work should be informed by an engineering evaluation the city has scheduled for fiscal 2026. Herman said the plant’s updated state discharge permit — still pending — will change regulatory obligations and that final engineering recommendations depend on the new permit. He also cautioned that restoring a methane flare or boilers faces additional regulatory constraints related to greenhouse-gas management.

Action and next steps: Mayor Rick Ufford Chase asked that the matter be added to the water and sewer task force agenda for more intensive review and to accelerate follow-up. Council members said they want the task force to consider short- and long-term options, financing implications and whether temporary processing by private contractors should be expanded. No formal capital appropriation or contract was approved at the meeting.

Community context and constraints: Residents said the odor has affected daily life for years; staff said the problem began in earnest after boilers and a flare were taken out of service around 2021 and that the city lacks the equipment to burn or use produced methane. Herman said private mobile processing is expensive — he recalled a 2023 contractor week-long engagement that cost on the order of tens of thousands of dollars — and the city is currently maxing out scheduled hauling to a vendor (Casella) and its existing sludge press.

What to watch: the water and sewer task force’s next meeting and the fiscal 2026 engineering evaluation, and whether the city pursues interim private processing or accelerates permit-driven capital work.