By Associated Press - Thursday, December 29, 2016

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) - South Sioux City is planning to reroute more industrial sewage away from a neighborhood that has been afflicted with sewer gas for the past three months.

The city will begin a $60,000 project this week to keep waste from two facilities from traveling east by adjusting two blocks of sewer line near the neighborhood, the Sioux City Journal (https://bit.ly/2itMUJZ ) reported.

The sewage, originating from Archer-Daniels Midland Animal Nutrition and Bimbo Bakeries, will instead travel north and return to the lines it flowed through before the city performed a multimillion-dollar project in August that rerouted the sewage east.

About 10 families in the five-block area are still staying in hotels after residents were driven from their homes in October due to potentially toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, which was originally tied to Big Ox Energy. Big Ox is a renewable fuels plant that shared a sewer line with the residences, going online around the same time the strong odors developed.

City officials said tests show hydrogen sulfide levels are back to normal, but that odors persist. The city’s latest testing on Dec. 24 suggested there may be one culprit for the odor.

“Sampling results have shown H2S odors from other sources than the Roth Industrial Park (where Big Ox is located). Further investigation is underway to determine the source and extent of the issue,” the city said.

Displaced resident Mike Klassen said he’s concerned that the waste might just be pushed on to a different residential area, and that there still may be other harmful gases in his home.

“I’m not convinced that I have any H2S in my house, but I’m convinced that there’s something horrible when I go in there,” he said.

The city said they will monitor hydrogen sulfide gas in the area, and have been adding hydrogen peroxide into the line in order to treat the gas.

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, https://www.siouxcityjournal.com

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