MILLSBORO, DE -- A pungent odor wafting through the air is once again the talk of town in Millsboro, months after residents and town leaders first reported smelling it. Now, town and State officials are clearing the air of assumptions about where that smell may be coming from.
Millsboro resident Marilyn Kelius says she often smells the odor while outside relaxing on her patio.
"It almost smells like raw sewage," says Kelius.
She worries that inhaling the aroma could be affecting her health and others'.
"There's a lot of senior citizens that have health issues," says Kelius. "Me, I'm one of them, and the stench is just getting too bad."
Millsboro Town Manager Jamie Burk says the town has received quite a few inquiries asking where the smell is coming from. He also says he's read several misleading assumptions about the source of the smell.
"It's mistaken often for our wastewater plant, but I'm a hundred percent confident our wastewater plant is running in optimal condition," says Burk. "There is dredging going on in the river. I'm not sure if that's the cause, but it is definitely an odor that sources east of us, and when the wind's out of the east, that's when we smell it the most."
Back in March, WBOC reached out to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources (DNREC) for answers. A spokesperson did confirm a dredging project underway in the Indian River and said that the materials at the bottom of the river often produce hydrogen sulfide, which in turn release a rotten egg smell. They added that those smells typically dissipate on their own fairly quickly and pose no health threat to the public.
In a statement on Wednesday, DNREC officials said, "Definitively, there are no odors from the DNREC dredging project under way in Millsboro. More of a possibility is that the odors are associated with bridge work in the area."
