PASCO, Wash. – Residents in the Tri-Cities area have noticed a foul smell in the air, which Pasco City Councilman Leo Perales attributes to the Lamb Weston land treatment system in Pasco.
Perales emphasized that his opinions do not reflect the official policy or position of the Pasco City Council or the City of Pasco.
Perales explained where he believes the source of the odor comes from.
“There’s two contributing factors to the stench. A lot of it is coming from the crop circles that are being irrigated with wastewater from the potatoes,” Perales said. “And so that smell is also combining with the wastewater treatment plant pond they have here. And so, everyone’s downwind of this facility. We’re just getting a very, very bad stench.”
Perales recently took to Facebook to bring attention to the smell, and many residents have voiced their concerns on social media.
Colleen Keltz with the Washington State Department of Ecology said Lamb Weston is aware of the complaints and is taking steps to improve their facility.
“Which has a range of benefits related to water quality and their processes. And then also they think it’ll help reduce the odor issues as well,” Keltz said.
The Department of Ecology has an online reporting system where people have filed complaints about the smell.
Perales noted the impact on local residents’ quality of life.
“But it’s reached as far as Kennewick. I had people call me on my phone. I can smell it from Kennewick. And so that’s when I’m like, yeah, this is a really big issue,” Perales said. “And so finally someone just kind of said something and I’m glad to see kind of a groundswell of residents willing to, you know, lend their voice, lend their complaints so we can see something get done.”
The Department of Ecology’s reporting system can be found here.
NonStop Local reached out to Lamb Weston for comment but did not get a response.
