Washington’s southeast sewer basin has undergone improvements in the last year, thanks in part to a Community Development Block Grant. At their recent meeting, the Washington City Council approved a $3,927 deduction for work that came in under budget. City Administrator Brent Hinson said they are maximizing their grant dollars with an added 6,000 lineal feet of cleaning and televising, “Now something that we’re investigating with FOX to make sure that we max out grant amount, and then also pending, you know, part of the work that we added on that’s show in here, it’s the reason why it’s a deduct of $3,900 versus more. Because we paid about, what was it like $12,000 to televise that whole east interceptor. That’s to look for potential damage to that interceptor from H2S gas, from hydrogen sulfide gas, because the same thing that was causing the odor issue in the east side of town could theoretically be eating our concrete pipe.”

Results from that televising aren’t available yet. Hinson said if there is damage, those areas could potentially be lined. Iowa Renewable Energy’s wastewater is contributing to the issue. The city is looking at adding peracetic acid that can be used to neutralize the issue.