Swamp smell still a mystery

Published 5:32 pm Monday, January 12, 2009

It’s still a mystery what the ongoing rotten egg smell that has sickened locals near Jackson High School is. Officials visited the Sullivan Wetland near the school for testing, but found nothing substantial.

More than three weeks ago, neighbors noticed a rotten egg smell coming from the swamp in the Sullivan Wetland north of the school off 136th Street Southeast. Some soon found themselves with headaches, nausea, burning eyes and scratchy throats.

Steve Fry, inspector with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, went to the wetland Monday, Jan. 5, and smelled no significant odor, said Amy Warren, communications specialist for the agency.

If no odor is smelled, there’s no reason to test the air, as it won’t detect anything, she said.

Howard Zorzi, environmental specialist for the state Department of Ecology, visited the swamp Wednesday, Jan. 7, but smelled nothing and therefore did no air tests, he said.

He looked over the swamp and it looked clean, he said.

Locals should contact the fire department when they smell the odor and have them come out to test, Zorzi said. If there is a problem, the agency can act to clear it up then, he said.

Dani Nelson lives near the high school and the swamp runs behind her property. The smell dissipated a bit last week, but came back, she said.

She started having nausea, headaches, dizziness and burning throat after the smell appeared weeks ago, and continues to suffer symptoms that are so bad she’s on medication.

Nelson’s children, and a handful of neighbors, have had some of the same symptoms.

Marci Chew, surface water technician with the city, tested the soil and water at the swamp a few weeks ago and found no fecal coliform bacteria, which would show a sewage break.

She and other staff did a smell test on the soil and determined the swamp was emitting hydrogen sulfide, a gas caused by decomposition.

Firefighters from Fire Station No. 7 came to Nelson’s house last week and tested the air, but found nothing, though they said they could smell how bad it was, Nelson said.

Their equipment registered no hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide or methane gas, said Eric Andrews, assistant fire chief for Fire Station No. 7.

Firefighters visited one other home Jan. 2 and got the same results.

If there was hydrogen sulfide, then concentrations were too low to register on the firefighters’ equipment, and that means the gas was lower than 1 part per million, said Tom Gathmann, public works director for the city of Mill Creek.

He spoke with John Lande, the wastewater treatment manager for the city of Monroe, who said the odor is a typical problem and can be very strong even when concentrations are extremely low — parts per billion instead of million.

The wetland biologist the city hired to investigate the issue said it is a natural biologic process that has been activated and will have to play out before the smell will stop, Gathmann said.

Until then, nothing can be done, he added.