EGELSTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Sarah Alspach lives off Hilton Park Road near Muskegon, not far from picturesque Wolf Lake. She's also not far from something much less scenic: the Muskegon County Wastewater Treatment Plant.
"Horrid. It's worse than rotten eggs. It's bad," Alspach said of the facility, which sometimes smells even from miles away. "On hot, humid days, you definitely smell it lingering."
The foul odor is spreading, so much so that Egelston Township officials recently received at least two complaints.
"This is not how it's supposed to look. In fact, it has never looked this way before," plant director David Johnson said of the 'setting cell' at the outdoor facility, which is covered in tangled up debris. "We've never seen this before, where we've had some of the sludge rise up and make a mat on top of the surface of the water."
The facility uses aerators, which bring oxygen to the wastewater and help keep the odor down. The problem now is that many of them aren't working. Johnson said they were broken by a buildup of wipes that people have flushed away.
FULL STORY: WOOD TV