As we have already hit very warm temperatures in our City many noticed yesterday evening that the odour concerns have begun. Although mitigation has started, the odour will unfortunately not dissipate immediately, and it will take time to see results. Please continue to report the concerns to 311 and reach out to us as necessary. In the coming months, we look forward to starting community engagement and creating a local group to help advocate for these concerns.

Here are the latest updates on the odours mitigation work:

S.E. Odour Investigation project

• As mentioned previously, The City is working with a third-party consultant, Jacobs Engineering, to investigate odour issues in the S.E. area. Sampling and modelling exploration took place over the last year. The latest work in the past few months has been to analyze the key odour sources and determine possible mitigation measures to minimize and/or restrict odours.
• We are expected to learn about the finalized report in the coming months and will have another update to share at that time.
• Significant findings and recommendations from the investigation will be shared on calgary.ca/odours this summer. Please stay tuned!

Latest operational updates

While the investigation has been ongoing, a number of infrastructure changes have already been planned or started to help improve odours:

• Biofilter replacement at the Calgary Composting Facility – the biofilter consists of wood chips that naturally help to remove odour in the air by filtering any gases. Supply chain challenges delayed the planned change, but work will now be underway throughout the month of May to complete the biofilter replacement.
• Composting Facility operational improvements – the facility is currently trialing a number of composting process changes to reduce the factors that affect the generation of odour-producing compounds. We are also reviewing standard operating procedures, and looking at alternatives, to minimize the amount of material that is on-site at any given time.
• Biosolids lagoons – a misting system at the lagoons includes an odour masking agent that currently requires manual operation. Upgrades and automation to the misting system will help provide additional coverage. This work will be ongoing throughout 2023.
• McKenzie Lift Station - is currently undergoing a design review, and odour mitigation will be considered in any future upgrade work to this infrastructure.

Our office will be following the progress of these steps and is looking forward to some relief they are expected to bring to our Ward’s odour issues. More potential recommendations will be coming out with the finalized report, and we look forward to engaging with the community on further advocacy.

311 reporting

We thank everyone who has taken the time to file an odour report. Please continue to fill in the online service request when you encounter an odour problem in your area:  https://calgary-cwiprod.motorolasolutions.com/cwi/direct/WRSODOIN

For more information, please read previous blog posts on this topic SE Smells - Evan Spencer for Ward 12 and visit Odours in S.E. Calgary