Proactive odour management at the City of Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP)

KWRP needed to find a solution for odour monitoring and measurement on and off site, while presenting community with a trusted and conclusive data of the odour source.

KWRP in numbers

190,000 residents

18 municipal jurisdictions

Influent flow 25.5 MGD

Company

The City of Kalamazoo is in southwestern Michigan approximately 136 miles west of Detroit, 73 miles southwest of Lansing, and 145 miles east of Chicago. A wide variety of industries and businesses call Kalamazoo home, including major players in the pharmaceutical, medical science, paper mill and craft beer industries. 

Region

Americas

Industries

Wastewater
Cities

Platforms

EVS Omnis

Challenge

Increasing scrutiny from the local community

The City of Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP) provides treatment services to more than 190,000 residents in 18 Kalamazoo-area municipal jurisdictions. The KWRP receives a significant portion of its wastewater from industrial sources. Manufacturers that produce pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, spices and food additives, as well as projects associated from groundwater clean-up and remediation of contaminated groundwater.  

The wastewater treatment facility has been under increasing scrutiny due to odour complaints from the local community. The odour complaints have been received from the adjacent communities, but historically it’s been difficult to assess KWRP’s specific contribution, or whether their operations are the cause of those nuisances at all. The plant’s proximity to other facilities makes it difficult to use traditional investigation methods in order to reach a conclusive answer.

Envirosuite has helped us to baseline local hydrogen sulfide levels to better evaluate odour mitigation efforts and keep the community informed of air quality in the area. The system is being expanded to track additional sources to best target odour reduction efforts and identify capital improvement projects that will have beneficial impacts on the Kalamazoo community.

- Jim Cornell, Kalamazoo Wastewater Division Manager, City of Kalamazoo

Solution

Identifying sources of hydrogen sulfide for better odour control strategies 

The ideal solution needed to consider various potential sources both on and off site for hydrogen sulphide (H2S), as well as not creating an impact to neighbouring locations, such as a hospital with sensitive receptors 

KWRP worked with Envirosuite to implement a comprehensive platform to complement the odour control methods already in place, and to provide a dynamic approach for predicting and assessing odour impacts moving forward. To develop the solution, Envirosuite worked with the team at KWRP to understand the nuances of the facility and the requirements. The solution uses twelve sensors (six on site, six off site) that are strategically located at the fence line or near odour and/or gas emission sources in order to accurately characterise emissions. The solution would incorporate the existing onsite weather data to have the most accurate weather conditions at the site for analysis of odour impacts.  

This solution includes a Software as a Service (SaaS) layer, providing KWRP staff with real-time information about fugitive emissions, the ability to determine the likely source of present and past odour events, and even provide advance warning about high-risk periods whenever possible.

Result

Constructive dialogue with local communities and lower cost of odour management

With the solution in place, the KWRP staff can gain better situational awareness around their operations and put them in a better position to investigate and resolve odour complaints from citizens located near the facility. 

Since implementing the solution, KWRP have been able to identify potential emission sources and analyse emission source contributions. The data has shown that by using both the monitoring data and advanced analysis provided by Envirosuite’s EVS Omnis platform, the plant’s management has been able to baseline hydrogen sulfide gas levels in the wastewater treatment plant and in the surrounding vicinity. The KWRP has also used this data to establish a constructive dialog with other industries towards improving their pre-treatment processes as well. 

Find out more on tangible cost savings experienced by KWRP by downloading our case study
  • Lower cost of odour reduction and mitigation strategies  

  • Build trust with the local community  

  • Shorten investigation time of emissions incidents 

Click here to download our free case study.