LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — An ongoing issue LEX18 has been following for months is a strong sewage smell sometimes taking over entire neighborhoods in Lexington. The city is taking next steps to try to clear the air beginning smoke testing next week, weather permitting.
Contractors will push non-toxic white smoke into manholes, and if a sewer pipe is cracked or broken, smoke will come up from the ground.
Homes scheduled for the next phase of sanitary sewer odor control will be notified by crews.
"They'll be doing door hangers. There will be an emergency number on that door hanger and there will be yard signs," Charles Martin said.
Martin, Lexington's Director of Water Quality, added that smoke testing begins September 9 in Meadowthorpe Neighborhood, followed by Cumberland Hill and Pinnacle. Speaking at Veterans Park, Martin describes a smell in the area similar to burned sulfur or a wet book of matches.
"This has been a longstanding issue particularly for this location and I need to figure out why," Martin noted.
Martin said he received a lot of complaints from neighbors in the Cumberland Hill area in October and November 2023, and to address the problem, he sought out some advice from a consultant agency, Webster Environmental Associates out of Louisville.
"We ended up hiring them as a permanent long term odor control consultant," Martin said.
That's progress compared to last fall since Martin's team has monitors in place to show what's performing and what isn't.
"I felt like I was flying blind all last fall because I had no data to evaluate anything," Martin added.
If smoke does enter your home during smoke testing, take the following steps according to Martin:
Open your windows and doors to let smoke out, and contact crews working in your neighborhood at (888) 357-6653.
To find out the schedule for smoke testing, head to lexingtonky.gov/sewerupdates.
You can also contact the Lexington Fire Department's non-emergency number at 859-231-5600.
Smoke testing is expected to finish in early November.
