KALAMAZOO, Mich. — City of Kalamazoo commissioners approved a project that would eliminate the odors in the Northside neighborhood.
"It smells like rotten flesh; it's really bad," described Angenette Smith. "It’s like maybe 20-week-old garbage you’re smelling and it's coming all into the neighborhood."
According to Public Services Director and City Engineer James Baker, old pipes are part of the problem.
"We've got a lot of updates to provide a new pipeline that's going to be free from odors," he said.
The pipes constructed in 1965 are part of the reason why neighborhoods near the Graphic Packaging facility have an odor, according to Baker.
"If you take ... that flow and aerate it and create turbulence around it, that can produce the potential for odors to exist," he explained.
The agreement between the city and Graphic Packaging International will replace the pipes with a smooth flow design with gentle transitions.
"The old pipeline had a lot of vertical drops, ... where flow came out of the Graphic Packaging clarifier. And then that flow literally dropped about 10 foot down into another pipeline," Baker told FOX 17.
The project will cost $3 million, on top of the $15 million they've previously invested.
"The new pipeline is going to be completely sealed; there's going to be no method for any of those odors to be released," Baker said.
Based on the previous projects, Baker says the city has seen an 89% reduction in odors. He says he knows the projects they are doing are working but there's still more to be done.
Read the project details below:
GPI Pipe Reroute Presentation by WXMI on Scribd
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