Chlorine smell in West Seattle (cross posted to water discussion)

[chinook]

I’ve noticed a chlorine smell in the water sometimes if I take an early morning shower though not for several months. Last night around 12:30AM (September 29/30) the air outside and even in our house was so saturated with the smell of chlorine I closed all the windows. I have assumed the occasional smell in the shower had something to do with ‘purifying’ water and it’s been so infrequent, I ignore it but have never noticed the smell outside. It was gone by 6AM. Anyone else?

Share This

[karen]

Google south end odor. For several years we have fought a strong chlorine-like smell in the south end – South Park, Georgetown and West Seattle. The source was determined to be from the LaFarge cement plant. After many complaints, citations, etc. the plant ceased operations.

For quite a while the smell was gone and we thought it was over. Then in the last few months it started again. I have called Puget Sound Clean air and been told that it can not be the LaFarge plant as they are not running. My current best guess is that either LaFarge has started limited running or that the smell is coming from the other cement plant on the Duwamish.

The LaFarge stack is much higher than the other plant’s stack. So, I am thinking that maybe the smell is not as prevalent as before because of that. The chlorine smell was found to be NOX emissions from the cement making process.

My recommendation is to call PSCCA and file a complaint. Nothing can be done right away, but if this becomes the problem that it was before, the history will help.

Share This

[chinook]

Thanks for your feedback, Karen. I will file a complaint tomorrow morning. So that I’m in touch with someone who is already up and running on this, I want to make sure we’re all talking with the same folks. It’s the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency here – http://www.pscleanair.org/contact/ right? Thanks again – and just for mapping purposes, I live on Gatewood Hill about 4 blocks east of the Morgan Junction.

Share This

[shed22]

I am in Seaview and have not noticed the chlorine smell or taste. Perhaps a Google map to identify a pattern? Similar to the Hum map? Crowd sourcing can surface helpful and, often times telling, information.

Share This

[KatherineL]

I woke at 3:30 AM yesterday with a bad headache I attributed to a strange smell in the house. I can’t say it was chlorine; I have a poor sense of smell and can’t identify them readily. The smell seemed to be gone by around 7 AM. I live near 35th and Avalon.

Share This

[karen]

The smell is not exactly a chlorine odor and some people describe it differently. the most common description was chlorine-like, as if walking into an indoor pool area. That said, it isn’t exactly chlorine,, but it is chemical, not natural.

For me, it tightens my chest and gives me a horrible headache. There were times it was so bad that I actually had to leave the area. At it’s worst, I did not sleep with the windows in the house open because if the smell came up at night I would wake with a migraine.

Yes – Puget Sound Clean Air. you can also file a complaint online.

Share This

[oddreality]

We smell that chlorine smell frequently at night just north of Morgan Junction.I once smelled it during the day down by the east side of the low bridge. It was strong there.I’ve always thought it was LaFarge. It can be almost nauseating at times.

Share This

[carrieann]

We’re just North of the Cali/Alaska Junction, and that chlorine/pool smell was *strong* last night. I noticed it as I was running a bath for my kids (around 7:30pm). My daughter even commented on it, on her own, saying it smelled like a swimming pool in there.

Share This

[chinook]

Just tried calling Puget Sound Clean Air to file a complaint and after spending 20 minutes on hold was disconnected. Save yourself the aggravation – there’s an online complaint form here: https://secure.pscleanair.org/Complaint/Odor.aspx I’ll post back when I hear from them.

Share This

[chinook]

Hi again – It’s been a week and I have yet to hear back from Puget Sound Clean Air. The chlorine smell was back Saturday night, Oct 6 (though not as strong as the week before on the 29th). I just called Seattle Public Utilities; although they seem more attached to water problems since I’ve noted the problem in shower water I thought it was a good place to start. Any other ideas of good contacts?

Share This

[chinook]

Follow up to my original post for the folks who were kind enough to include their thoughts.

I did finally get hold of the Puget Sound Clean Air Inspector tasked with monitoring West Seattle and the Gatewood Hill Area. He told me that the smell is a by product (Nitric Oxide) vented when large industrial plants are using gas to power various processes. He also told me that the big plants are constantly monitored and the cement plant that others have mentioned that eventually closed (LaFarge) was the biggest offender. Despite having the highest measured output of Nitric Oxide, it still fell within the level of what is safe and what is legal.

He said since we live in an ‘industrial area’ (this was the hardest part for me to swallow – I’m on 39th near Morgan on Gatewood Hill – not sitting over the Duwamish, but regardless, this is not acceptible for any residential area) we are subject to industrial smells when the wind is blowing the right way.

So I guess the takeaway is that according to PSCA, we have an unpleasant but non-lethal industrial gas venting periodically that is being monitored.

I’m glad I alerted them and I did tell the inspector that via the blog, we knew a rather large area was affected on both sides of 35th.

I suggest we all stay vigilant and aware since we have a great way to stay in touch via the blog forum so if this escalates, we know where to turn.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts!

Share This

[Author]

Posts