“Oops. Excuse me.”
Pacific Coast Terminals has confessed it may be the source of a mysterious gaseous odour that’s descended on parts of Port Moody the past week.
In a statement posted to its website on Sunday, PCT said components of its own water treatment systems “are the likely sources of recent community odour issues.” But, it reassured, the smell is organic and “poses no health risk to the public.”
The company said its own assessments identified “higher than normal” levels of odour from the systems and it’s working with Metro Vancouver and experts to pinpoint the exact problem.
“We take this situation extremely seriously,” the company said, adding it is “working around the clock to remediate the elevated odour levels."
But until that happens, it said there “may be surges of odour emitted at certain points in the remediation process.”
The smell, that some described as resembling natural gas or propane, first wafted over the city Aug. 9, alighting in various neighbourhoods like College Park and Glenayre. But it was also noted across the Inlet in Pleasantside.
Several calls to 911 about the odour prompted an investigation by Port Moody Fire Rescue, that admitted it was stumped, but cited rotting organic material in the Inlet that was exposed at low tide as a possible source.
Friday, Metro Vancouver said it had sniffed out the source of the problem as waste water treatment ponds at an industrial facility, but didn’t specify which facility.
