Western Wayne Regional Sewage District is trying another weapon in its war upon bad odors in Cambridge City.
Residents who live near the treatment plant at 200 S. Plum St., a few blocks southeast of downtown, have raised concerns about the odors for about two years. Passersby on U.S. 40 sometimes can detect the odor.
WWRSD and SugarCreek Packing, based at Gateway Industrial Park along Indiana 1 north of town, began taking steps about two years ago to address the smell after it lingered for a few months and no easy-to-solve cause could be found.
After SugarCreek began adding chemicals to its wastewater, some said air quality later improved, but the problem hasn’t been eliminated. Several neighbors returned to WWRSD’s last regular meeting and asked for additional action.
Indianapolis-based Wessler Engineering, which helped WWRSD with construction of its new treatment plant a few years ago, evaluated additional solutions and recommended a company to take on that work.
At a special Oct. 29 meeting, the six WWRSD board members who attended unanimously voted to begin a $35,000 pilot program with USP Technologies of Chicago. Three members were absent.
USP specializes in odor control and will bring its own equipment to do testing and feed Environmental Protection Agency-approved chemicals into the lift station.
Those chemicals include peroxide, ferrous chloride and sodium hypochlorite, which WWRSD plant manager Michael Stuckey described as a strong bleach.
Stuckey said the pilot program includes enough chemicals to last about two months. After that, WWRSD will pay about $30,000 per year for the chemicals.
Experts gave WWRSD three options to consider. One was ozone generation, but Stuckey said it was more expensive, could be finicky and has lots of moving parts. Another option was carbon filters to be inserted in manholes. However, the filters would mask odors but not eliminate their cause.
Stuckey said the chemicals will tackle odors at the source before they turn into a gas.
Stuckey is grateful that SugarCreek plans to continue adding peroxide to its wastewater at the industrial park before it heads to the treatment plant.
SugarCreek cooks and processes meats and other foods for food service industries and retail customers at six manufacturing and packaging facilities across the Midwest.
Stuckey said the odor has been attributed to the stronger wastewater coming from the industrial park plus the length of time it takes to get to the treatment plant. It must travel a distance of 2.3 miles, and depending on the flow, it will arrive in 90 to 270 minutes.
Stuckey said SugarCreek’s contribution has definitely helped address the issue, but a handful of neighbors still deal with the odor nearly daily.
“That’s why we’re taking these steps to get it knocked out and fix the problem for good, hopefully,” Stuckey said.
Eventually, water service will need to be added at the lift station as part of a long-term solution, Stuckey said, but a cost for that is not yet available.
A version of this article appeared in the November 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.