After the Richmond wastewater treatment plant emitted a foul odor for several days, the city council demanded answers Wednesday night. Pete Suratos reports.
The company in charge of Richmond’s wastewater treatment plant was in the hot seat Tuesday night as the city council held a special meeting to get answers after sit facility emitted foul odors for several days.
Richmond residents and city council members had some pointed words towards the Veolia Services officials.
“The stench of this B.S. that we've heard in this chamber today while your company can’t figure out how to run a plant,” said one community member.
“That disrespect for our community, we're going to change it one way or the other.” Councilmember Cesar Zepeda said. “Because we’re no longer going to be asking please.”
At the meeting, Veolia officials explained that last week’s odors were caused by high levels of hydrogen sulfide from a construction project.
Those officials also took full responsibility for the smell, and said they needed to do a better job of communicating about projects to the city.”
To hold the company accountable, the city council passed a motion for it to submit a report detailing the incident, how it will resolve ongoing odor issues at the plant, and its communications plan with the city.
Veolia will have to present the report to the council next month.
Residents like Edie Alderette-Sellers, who have dealt with the odor over the years, said it felt long overdue.
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“It’s the first time someone I feel like somebody is actually hearing us when we say that this is a problem,” said Alderette-Sellers.
