I love my town. But, sometimes it smells… you know the smell I’m talking about. That kinda sewery smell you get a whiff of (or worse) now and again down at the Victoria Quay or along Stamp Ave. I’ve talked to a few folks about it, at the Ministry of Environment, City, and Catalyst… but there isn’t a lot of agreement on what’s happening.

So why not see if we as a community can pinpoint where this smell is coming from.

And at the same time, maybe we’ll compel not just our municipal leaders, but also maybe the provincial and federal environmental folks to take a look at this, because in my mind not only is it really bad for us as a potential tourist stop, but it’s *got* to be bad for our health.

So, if you smell that smell… you have lots of ways to leave a report:
Report it at alberni.ca where this thought originated.
Jot it down in an email to me (chrisale@gmail.com).
Leave a comment in this post,
or text me (250-918-0027).
Here is the criteria you need to provide… please try to be as specific as you can.

Date/Time:
Location:
Strength of Smell: (scale of 5… 5 being physically affecting you, watering eyes, nausea, etc)
Nature of Smell: (rotten eggs?sewage?wood?tides?)
Weather: (any wind? rain? I will try to correlate it with information here)
Tide: If possible check if the tide is in or out, again, I can double check this.

If you send me that information, then I will post it on this map:


View Port Alberni Smell Tracker in a larger map

I look forward to your reports. Together, hopefully we can make a difference.

(Please do not phone the number above with reports…. text only please)

About The Author

11 thoughts on “Can you help track the smell?

  1. haha! Well, you’ve already got my store on there as a stinky area! It has been terrible some days! Thanks for all your efforts on this!!!

  2. Hi Kari! Are you down on Victoria Quay?

    Please do “report in” whenever it is stinky! It will be very useful to have many many reports over many days.

    The more reports, the more likely we can find the source and get something done.

  3. Oh, and if you’re talking to your neighbour businesses, don’t hesitate to get them to report in as well.

    In my talk with the environmental manager at Catalyst, he said his nose isn’t too good and can’t really smell what everyone is talking about… so I think we should help him out. 🙂

  4. Chris, we notice the smell too when we’re in town, but what I get is not a smell I’d associate with the pulp mill. To me, it smells more like the waste treatment plant across the river – almost like the ponds are full or overflowing, or the treatment process isn’t working as well as it should be.

  5. Yesterday (Thursday 6th) at 4pm in front of Manzini Animal Clinic on Margaret a lovely sewage- rotton egg smell very strong. Tide looked high and wind was blowing from the south end of town.If I was a tourist and smelt this I would not hang around and would tell people Port Alberni stinks (which it does)
    As a newer resident here we don’t need this.

  6. Thank you John!

    As a long time resident here.. we dont need this either! :+)

    Please everyone keep submitting your reports no matter where you are or when it is. It is all useful and helpful information.

  7. Smell, yesterday May 9th @ 4:30pm
    Location Johnson Rd & Gertrude
    Sewage smell, 5 on a scale of 5..disgusting
    windy

    Glad someone is trying to get to the bottom of this, the City sure is ignoring it.

  8. Today at Johnson and Gertrude.
    Sewage smell a good 4 on scale.
    Windy SW ,I think, and about mid tide.At 12.30pm.

  9. Went fishing out of clutesi haven this morning (june 20th) at 5 am. WOW disgusting smell. from clutesi haven to the other end of town till we left port alberni on our way out the inslet.
    I thought it was eithe rht emill or sewage? like sulphur or worse.

  10. July -29 -2010

    00:15hrs – Johnstone and Stamp Corner by 7-11. Very strong 9 stench of rotting sewage. Putrid. Had to plug my nose as I passed by in the car.

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