Pickle Company Takes Responsibility For Southwest Metro Stench
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- People living in the southwest metro might have noticed an unpleasant smell over the past couple of days.
"It smelled like raw sewage," Shakopee resident Mike Moll said. "It was absolutely disgusting."
The Scott County Sheriff's office got more than a dozen calls about the odor Wednesday morning.
"It was very putrid," Shakopee worker Sheri Anderson said.
City officials from Shakopee and Eden Prairie were both on the case. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was also called to investigate the odor to see if it could be coming from their Flying Cloud landfill in Eden Prairie. The closed plant is having work done by a contractor.
"We were just trying to find out what was causing it just in case it was something that we had to be concerned about," Scott County Sheriff's office communications director Chris Weldon said.
But after ruling out the landfill and a Met Council-owned wastewater plant in Shakopee, Gedney Foods Company came forward with the answer.
It wasn't exactly pickles causing the stench. Gedney Foods said its wastewater treatment plant in Chaska started its annual spring aeration on Tuesday and that the process normally generates an odor for 24 hours. By late Wednesday, the mysterious smell in Shakopee was no more.
"It does smell better now," Moll said. "But who knows, maybe someone showered."
Gedney said that it notified the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency about the aeration. The company says the process is safe and follows state and federal regulations.