LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- Fears of a foul odor had Buechel and Newburg residents marching outside Metro Hall on Tuesday.
Residents and business owners are worried that they'll be smelling sewage whenever we see rain. That's why they're calling for changes to what's called the Buechel Basin project.
They chanted, "What do we want -- Justice!" They want MSD officials to agree to a meeting to talk about the three large storm water collecting basins being built on a 90-acre site off of Poplar Level Road and Jennings Lane.
MSD says it has to build them to meet federal "Clean Water Act" standards, as Chief Engineer Steve Emily of MSD explains: "What happens during wet weather today is our sewers become overwhelmed. We have to pump the streams. We want to avoid doing that, so during wet weather the basin will fill up and as soon as the levels in our sewers go back down we'll immediately pump that back into the sewers for treatment."
But residents are fearful the water collecting in those basins will start to smell -- and worse. Newburg resident Carolyn Hayes says, "It's going to manifest mosquitoes bugs, rats, smell."
Another Newburg resident, Eva Clay, says, "The community, it's a home-based community, you know what I mean? And we don't want this smell. People can't live with that."
But Emily says he is taking every step possible to make sure neighbors will not be dealing with any type of odor. He says MSD will treat the wastewater with a diluted bleach solution and will monitor the odor level with frequent air quality checks. If need be, workers will use a carbon filter to help trap any smell.
MSD officials say the closest neighborhoods to those three waste water basins is buffered by 35 acres of trees. Water will only stay in the basins for a day or two until it's filtered back into the sewer system.
Neighbors want the design changed so that the basins are covered. Hayes says, "We're talking about 100 million gallons of runoff sewage water which is going to be within a 1.2 mile radius of my house."
Emily says that's not likely to happen: "We have been through those analysis in terms of cost and operation of the facilities. We're comfortable there is not going to be an odor problem."
And Hayes says, "Just give us the design that's going to work for us so that we can breathe, so that our children can go outside and play."
So far, more than 800 people have signed a petition against the project. The basins will start to be used during rain storms by the end of next year.
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