Arsene Street neighbors asked Fairhaven for hydrogen sulfide monitors after a summer of sewer plant odor

FAIRHAVEN Neighbors of Fairhaven's Arsene Street wastewater treatment plant asked the Board of Public Works on Monday, Aug. 17, to put hydrogen sulfide monitors at the edge of the plant property nearest their homes, after a summer in which, they said, the plant's odor carried for blocks past their neighborhood in every direction, The Fairhaven Neighborhood News reported. Hydrogen sulfide is the gas behind the rotten egg smell, and the town's monitors for it are in and immediately around the plant and on its workers, with none in the neighborhood, the paper reported.

Board member Hoppy Hobson made the motion to get prices, and after about an hour of discussion the board asked its engineer, Ian Catlow, to research the options without taking a formal vote, saying it would take the matter up at a future meeting, according to the paper. Two Board of Health members, Barbara Acksen and Justine Frezza, came to support the neighbors' request, and Health Agent David Flaherty also attended.

What neighbors have reported

Neighbors had raised the smell with town officials well before the summer. In a signed letter The Fairhaven Neighborhood News published March 18, a resident wrote that people living near the plant had noticed "a very significant increase in the frequency and intensity of very strong and unpleasant odors" over the past year and that many neighbors had raised concerns with town officials. The public works superintendent had linked the odors to the plant's renovation, the letter said, while neighbors believed the clearing of many trees for a new housing development may also have taken away a buffer from the smell.

At the August meeting, neighbors and the Board of Health members said they wanted to measure the gas at lower levels and match the readings to health complaints, and neighbors said even low levels of hydrogen sulfide over long periods can cause health problems, the paper reported. A 16-house construction project underway in the neighborhood has cleared many trees, the paper reported, and its editor wrote that the Arsene Street neighbors had a tough summer of noise and odor from the construction at the plant and around them.

What the board and the superintendent said

Board Chair Brian Wotton said repeatedly that he did not understand how monitors that far from the plant would help, and he said the monitors closer to the source would go off if levels got too high, according to the paper. Catlow said the gas can be smelled at very low levels and that the plant's alarms go off only at much higher levels, and he said he did not think any monitor out in the field could record readings that could be checked in real time.

Public Works Superintendent Vinnie Furtado said the department put odor control measures in place after neighbors complained and that he felt they had worked, and he said June had been "awful." "I'm not saying it didn't stink to high heaven," Furtado told the board. He said the upgrade was complicating matters, and that once it is finished and the plant settles down, the measures, which the paper described as mostly chemicals added to cancel out the odor, will be permanent.

"We can talk about this all night long," Hobson said, adding that the board should price the equipment to see whether it is feasible. "I wouldn't want to live in that neighborhood myself, I'll tell you that right now."

The upgrade behind the work

The upgrade Furtado described in August as complicating matters is a $70 million project required to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for removing nitrogen from sewage, and it includes a new nitrogen removal building on the south side of the Arsene Street property, The Fairhaven Neighborhood News reported in August 2024, when Furtado said the project was on schedule and the paper reported it was set to finish by August 2026. The Buzzards Bay Coalition reported in March 2025, after a tour of the site, that the project was expected to be finished and meet its federal permit by 2027, a permit that limits the plant to 125 pounds of nitrogen a day, and the coalition reported the plant will send 90% less nitrogen into inner New Bedford Harbor.

The Board of Health created an online odor complaint form for people living near the plant by March, and notices the paper published in March and late June urged residents to use it, saying the reports would help officials understand when odors occur and "evaluate whether additional mitigation measures are needed."

How to report the smell

• The June notice the paper published asks residents near the plant who notice strong odors to file a report on the Board of Health's online odor complaint form on the town website, fairhaven-ma.gov, or, for people without internet access, to call the Health Department at 508-979-4032.
• The notices say consistent reports from residents will help the town find patterns in when the odor occurs and respond more effectively.
• Board of Public Works meetings are open to the public, and FairhavenTV posts recordings on demand at FairhavenTV.com, so neighbors can follow the board's work on the monitor question.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.