Mystery smell suggested to be local landfill

Site staff by Site Contributor

The mystery smell in Madison’s Elvehjem neighborhood has been potentially identified to be permeating from the local landfill due to this summer’s unusual weather, according to Alder Denise DeMarb.

The smell was reported on by Channel3000 on Aug. 15, by members of the community complaining that the area smelt like garbage, especially early in the morning and at night.

Public Health Madison & Dane County and the Dane County Solid Waste Division, in cooperation with several other groups, responded by developing an online survey to investigate the type of odor, frequency of the smell and duration of exposures, a release from DeMarb said.

The survey was shared with the community through social media and resulted in more than 1,000 responses, according to the release.

The continuing investigation suggests the landfill may be the source of at least some of the odor. The release suggests that the smell may have been enhanced by Dane County’s wet summer this year combined with the recent weather pattern of cool and calm nights.

The Solid Waste Division is addressing concerns about the smell by placing additional cover over areas of the landfill to limit gas emissions, installing multiple misting systems to disperse odor neutralizers and installing additional gas collection wells to capture and destruct landfill gasses. They are also working with experts to help prevent an event like this from happening in the future, according to the release.

While the smell has led to symptoms of headaches, stress and affected quality of life, the smell is not expected to increase the risk of disease, according to the release.

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