MILWAUKEE — Neighbors in parts of Bay View have been battling strong sewer-like odors, especially after large rain events.
“It's kind of indescribable,” said Aaron Thiel. “It's like a sickening sweet smell with, like, kind of a tinge of sulfur.”
A viewer reached out to TMJ4 News for help.
Other neighbors TMJ4 News spoke with couldn’t even describe it, but the odor has become a real problem over the past three years on certain blocks.
“I’d probably equate it to a sewage-type smell—sulfur—very strong,” said Elena, who lives in Bay View.
Thiel tells TMJ4 News he began to notice the strong odor on and off about three years ago, coming up from his basement.
He first thought it was a natural gas leak, but that wasn’t the case. Thiel even spent thousands of dollars on fixing the plumbing, thinking that was the issue, but the odor persisted, and at times would become unbearable.
He and others told TMJ4 News that they'd noticed the odor, particularly after heavy rain events in the streets and in their homes.
Watch: Bay View residents upset with mysterious odor, cause under investigation
“We’ve had to go to hotels overnight just because it's been so bad, and it just doesn't go away,” said Thiel. “It's all over the neighborhood.”
Neighbors off camera told TMJ4 News the odor was particularly worse near the sewer grates.
The Milwaukee Department of Public Works and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) are both aware of the issue. The sewer maintenance unit is working in conjunction with MMSD.
A department representative told TMJ4 News via email that crews deodorized different sewers in that area on Wednesday.
“DPW flushes the sewers with clean water and then pours about two (2) gallons of the deodorizing agent into the sewers. It is a very effective agent, thus not a large amount is needed to use over several city blocks where a potential odor is present,” read the email response.
A representative from MMSD said they are leading the investigation in trying to figure out what is causing the smell and have not been able to pinpoint an exact cause at this time.
While some theories are being considered right now, none have been proven.
“It’s kind of unpredictable,” said Elena. “I don’t love that I don’t really know when I come outside every day if it will be there or not.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, TMJ4 News did not detect the smell.
Thiel and other neighbors have told TMJ4 News that they’ve been working with their alderwoman, Marina Dimitrijevic, to try and get to the bottom of the problem.
“We just have to leave the house, and that's not great, and also, we've got young kids, so you don't want them breathing that,” said Thiel.
Thiel and others are now dreading the next major rainfall event or when the smell might arise unannounced.
“We need a fix because this is not going away,” said Thiel.
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