Mysterious stink on Kelowna street annoys residents, confounds officials

Ask almost any resident along Cerise Drive in Kelowna about ‘the stink’ and they’ll know what you’re referring to.

“It’s a nauseating, putrid sewer-type smell,” says Tod Alstad.

“Sometimes it just takes your breath away,” adds Don London.

The odour, which comes and goes, arises from storm sewer grates along the street.

“It’s awful, I don’t want to live with it,” says Summer Turri.

Reacting to numerous complaints, the City has flushed the storm drain pipe and scoped it with a camera numerous times without much success.

“We don’t know what the source of the odour is but we do know, we’re very confident, it’s not sewage,” says Kevin Van Vliet, the City of Kelowna utility services manager.

He says there are bacteria in the pipe producing pungent gases including hydrogen sulfide.

The City has budgeted $75,000 to hire an expert in hydrogeology to investigate in the spring.

“We’re fairly confident we can come up with a solution this year and have enough money to implement the solution,” says Van Vliet.

For Cerise Drive residents, an end to the stink can’t come soon enough.

“Something has to be done, no question about that,” says Alstad.