That nasty smell from a sewer treatment plant, historically caused by waste pouring in from the San Benito Foods tomato seasonal canning operation, returned over the weekend to areas of Hollister. Mayor Ignacio Velazquez then reacted to an array of complaints Monday by revitalizing talk of his idea for a “floating islands” concept at the waste pond.
An odor coming from the city’s industrial wastewater pond—one of two sewer ponds along with the primary commercial operation—returned late Saturday into Sunday throughout parts of Hollister, even miles from the west-side waste facilities. The industrial pond operation, otherwise dormant, kicks in for 10 to 12 weeks of canning each summer from downtown-based San Benito Foods.
When a similar odor cropped up throughout town two years ago, it spurred conversation among city council members of the floating islands concept supported by the mayor. Discussions ultimately led to the city spending $2.13 million on traditional sludge removal at the two waste ponds instead of approving the more natural concept from Mokelumne Hill-based Floating Islands West costing an estimated six figures.
Velazquez responded Monday by acknowledging the city is receiving many complaints about the smell. He said after hearing about it late Saturday, he drove around some neighborhoods near the cannery at close to midnight.
“It’s unacceptable,” Velazquez said of the smell returning.
The mayor said he plans to set up a meeting with cannery officials and others to examine solutions. He broached the floating islands concept in the interview with the paper and said he would push for the idea again in light of the smell returning.
San Benito Foods Plant Manager Kent Rounds did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
San Benito County’s Environmental Health Manager Darryl Wong said his agency had been receiving many complaints Monday as well. The division doesn’t have jurisdiction over investigating such complaints, so it refers them to local code enforcement, he said. If there were issues at local restaurants, that is one area where his agency could respond with action, he said.
One resident who reached the Free Lance to complain about the odor issue was Bill Colburn. He said the wastewater smell issue goes back 40 years and he remembered when his step-mother wrote a letter to the newspaper about it.
“I live about a mile, mile and a half from the (sewer pond),” he said. “The odor was horrific. I have a hangar at the airport. I was here at the hangar late. Around 10 o’clock, as soon as I hit the stoplight at 25 and San Benito, I started smelling it. I thought, ‘Oh my god.'”
Colburn said he woke up the next morning with a headache and added how he never gets headaches.
“I sealed the house up but I could still smell the odor in my house,” he said.
Wong said so far, it’s not a health hazard like it was in past years, but he did consider it a “nuisance.” His agency, like others, has been trying to communicate with cannery officials about the smell returning.
“We haven’t been able to reach them,” Wong said.
Wong recalled the cannery issue in 2014 when a foul smell largely affected the west side and downtown for several days at the end of July and in early August , and was caused by excessively low pH levels. He mentioned how the cannery agreed to pump millions of gallons of additional water into the system to wash out remnants causing the smell.
As explained at the time by an operator, the seasonal flows start in July at about 200,000 gallons daily and build up to 2.5 million gallons daily for the 10- to 12-week canning season. That is more than the 2.2 million gallons of waste treated daily at the domestic pond, which serves the entire city outside of the cannery
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