Air Quality & Odor Reduction

Odors and pollution are more than a nuisance. That’s why the City of Kalamazoo has been reducing the impact of wastewater treatment and working with businesses to reduce their impact too. We've improved our processes for wastewater treatment to reduce the impact from loading trucks and our treatment processes. We've also installed five industrial air filters (called "carbon scrubbers") to remove hydrogen sulfide from the air and installed a network of sensors to evaluate the effect of these projects. 

Looking ahead, we're going to rebuild a key sewer line to stop odors from escaping and install five more carbon scrubbers to filter the air from the system. We're also partnering with JustAir to monitor other aspects of air quality around the city.   

Odor Task Force

The Odor Task Force is a technical work group of members from local industry, community committees, local and State agencies, elected officials, and City staff. The OTF provides a collaborative forum to discuss concerns and potential mitigation efforts regarding industrial odors. Specifically it focuses on odors emitted from the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant and local industries that have the potential to emit odors. Odors emitted within a community fall under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy's (EGLE) Air Quality Division.