What is causing that stinky situation in South Lake Tahoe?

UPDATE 7/15/21: The wastewater treatment plant continues to experience issues necessitating the export of partially treated wastewater to the emergency retention basins on the corner of Black Bart Ave and Pioneer Trail in South Lake Tahoe. The District has modified its system and is now able to pump wastewater that is further along in the treatment process to the basins, which should reduce odor.

Even though work continues to stabilize the wastewater treatment plant, they do not have a set date for when they'll be able to empty the emergency retention basins and clean them. At this time, they expect to be storing water in the basins until next week.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Yes, there is a reason for the smell over the last three days near Black Bart Avenue. The South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) had to store partially treated wastewater in one of its two emergency retention basins over the weekend. The ponds are located on Black Bart Avenue near Pioneer Trail.

The basins are designed to store wastewater when there is an issue at the treatment plant to prevent a sewage spill.

STPUD is currently rehabilitating one of its three secondary clarifiers, which is over 50 years old. The combination of high flows due to increased visitation over the 4th of July holiday and unusually high temperatures in the valley, and a settling problem with the remaining two secondary clarifiers caused them to store two million gallons of partially treated wastewater in the emergency retention basin.

The wastewater treatment plant has stabilized and STPUD is currently returning the water to the plant and conducting cleaning operations.

“We don’t take this lightly and only use the emergency retention basins as a last resort,” said Jeff Lee, manager of Plant Operations. “We thank our neighbors for their understanding and patience and are doing everything we can to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.”

STPUD maintains the two emergency retention basins which are designed to store 56 million gallons of water when there is an issue at the treatment plant. They last used the basins to store partially treated wastewater during the big winter storms of February 2017. Prior to that, the basins had not been used for this purpose since 1997.

When the wastewater treatment plant was built in the 1950s, it was located on the outskirts of town. Over the last 70 years, South Lake Tahoe has grown and the plant is now located right in the heart of town.

“The District is very conscientious of odors and has invested in various measures over the years to reduce odors,” said Lee. “The reality is that we can’t totally remove odors, but we continue to monitor odor on a daily basis and run our operations to minimize impacts to our neighbors.”

For more information about the wastewater treatment process, visit stpud.us.