Edwin Parker, a truck driver from Winslow, Ariz., tells the Las Cruces Sun-News he scrunches and scratches his nose every time he drives into Las Cruces.

And Beth Draper, who lives outside Bakersfield, Calif., told the paper she doesn't know much about Las Cruces because she can tolerate it only as long as it takes to fill up her car with gas.

"It about makes me sick," said Parker, who drives through Las Cruces up to seven times a year. "Because of that smell, I might only stop here once or twice, and that's only because I need fuel. Sometimes, I just want to get out of town as fast as I can."

Truckers and motorists alike are coming to know Las Cruces as "Stinktown," the Sun-News said.

"Y'all might have a really nice city, but because of that smell I really don't want to take the time to find out," Parker told the Sun-News.

And what's the cause of this public-relations nightmare?

It's the city-owned and operated Jacob A. Hands Wastewater Treatment Plant, located on Motel Boulevard near Interstate 10, and it's the only sewage treatment plant the city has, the Sun-News reported.

All of the city's wastewater, from the East Mesa and Las Colinas neighborhood, from Mesilla to the south and from the north valley, flow into the plant, the paper reported.

Urban sprawl and long sewer lines are contributing to the stink, and city water resources administrator Gilbert Morales told the Sun-News some wastewater has been in those lines for as long as six hours.

"By the time that wastewater reaches the plant it had the chance to break down and release those gases everyone smells," Morales said.

But city officials are aware of the problems and are trying to resolve them, with several major improvements planned to reduce the smelly conditions that bother visitors and residents alike, the paper reported.

Among those solutions, Morales told the Sun-News, is the building of a new $8 million water reclamation facility located off Lohman Avenue near an old city landfill, where wastewater from the East Mesa will be diverted.

Groundbreaking on the new facility will take place next month, and it will take about a year to build, the paper said.

So, you'll just have to hold your nose until the new plant and some other improvements take effect. 

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE