City of Mount Dora has a week to answer FDEP Consent Order about foul odor
MOUNT DORA, Fla. - The City of Mount Dora is in trouble with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The city has one week to answer a Consent Order saying it needs to do a better job of odor mitigation at its wastewater treatment plant.
The Mayor of Mount Dora says she’s done everything she can to investigate the smell and maintains the city isn’t the culprit, but people living in the area say they don’t believe that.
Mandy Richardson says she’s lived in the Sullivan Ranch area, an unincorporated part of Mount Dora, for about ten years. She’s complained about the odor but feels those gripes have fallen on deaf ears.
"It’s definitely gotten worse and more frequent," said Richardson. "It’s been so strong that I open up the door to let my dog out and immediately vomit."
Bill Kays has frequently spoken up at city commission meetings about the smell. He says it’s enough to make your eyes water.
"The smell some days is so bad that it can make you sick," said Kays. "It’ll wake you up at 4 in the morning, and once the smell gets into the house, you can’t get it out for hours."
Ashley Davis says she’s tried everything to get rid of the stench. She’s lit candles, sprayed air fresheners, and installed a new filtration system; she says nothing works.
"It’s really terrible. It gives me headaches, I feel constantly congested," said Davis. "It just sucks not knowing what we’re breathing in."
The FDEP has been trying to crack down on whatever is stinking up Mount Dora, but Mount Dora Mayor Crissy Stile says the FDEP is pointing the finger in the wrong direction.
"I think we’ve gone above and beyond to prove that it’s not our sewer plant," the Mayor said.
The FDEP says the city "failed to operate" its wastewater treatment plant "in a manner to control objectionable odors." The FDEP is demanding a new odor control plan and an odor control study and says the city has to send a written status report every quarter.
The consent order also says the city owes the FDEP $9,750 in settlement money, $9,250 in civil penalties, and $500 to cover the FDEP’s costs. If the city fails to comply, it owes a penalty of $1,000 a day.
But Mayor Stile says the city has spent over half a million dollars taking extra precautions even beyond what the DEP requires.
"If you talk to our City Attorney, she’s of the opinion that we definitely do not owe those fines," the mayor said.
The City of Mount Dora started putting chemicals in its lift stations and introduced new chemicals that get rid of hydrogen sulfide, which the mayor says is what residents are smelling. They also installed "sniffer" devices along the fence line of the wastewater treatment plant. The city employees also wear the sniffers as they work.
"There’s absolutely no report of odor at the fence line or anywhere else in the facility," said Mayor Stile.
A landfill in town, Mid-Florida Recycling, also got a consent order but already got to work on gas vent improvements, soil cover, and air quality monitoring. So when the city passes the blame back to the landfill, lots of residents aren’t buying it.
"You can definitely smell the difference between what is the dump and what is the wastewater treatment plant," argued Richardson. "They have two distinct odors."
FOX 35 News reached out to Mid-Florida for an update, but we haven’t heard back.
Mayor Stile says the City has no control over the landfill because it answers directly to the FDEP.
"We’ve done our part," said Mayor Stile. "Now we just need these other facilities that could be at fault to do their part too."
"It needs to be corrected," added Kays. "There’s no reason for us to have to put up with the noxious smells and odors that come in our direction on a regular basis that inhibit us to enjoy the property and the lifestyles we’ve all come to like in Florida."
The city says it’ll be discussing the Consent Order at Thursday night’s council meeting. They also plan to put data online from its sniffers and its weather station for public access.