Sewer Gas Fumes

Report in writing to the management

Move

Bill management, threaten suit if they don't release you from your lease

Check to see if a waste trap, such as in the laundry room, has not dried out. Add water if that is the case, float a little cooking oil on top, or cap to prevent this in the future.

No, this is not 'off topic'. I found just such a condition in a house in town. Poor plumbing practice.

You want to wait untill the health dept. does something about it, don't hold your breath. Get an O2 meter from your buddy at the gas company and find the source.

I assume you live in the US. The EPA will be of no help whatsoever. The local/county/state health department should be the first responder on this. I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest a possibility - do you have a natural gas leak or a pilot light out?

No gas heater or water heater so no pilot. I have been trying for two days to reach the health department and only to get " all lines are busy please try your call later" which is no help at all. I am going to call the water company that we pay out sewage and trash and water today. Then also call the poison control center if I cannot get an 02 sensor from the water company or somewhere.

Thats terrible. I agree with TVP45 in his suggestions, and the EPA will be of no help!

I have recently been involved in a similar problem in an older part of the city in which I live. Both a library and a new wing of a hospital were closed as a result of sewer gases. Our company was called in to investigate and resolve the issue. It was determined that the new wing of the hospital was constructed deeper than the sewer lines servicing the building. These old sewer lines were leaky and introduced a high organic loading on the groundwater nearby. As a consequence, the ground water then moved through the redox curve to result in the production of hydrogen sulfide gases (rotting egg odor). This movement through the redox curve is driven by microbial action and can be stopped. The hydrogen sulfide laced groundwater then entered the hospital's sump hole. This water was pumped up to the storm water lines under the road surface. This storm water line was connected to a library (roof drainage) across the street and thus the sulfur water fumes were allowed to enter that building. The storm sewer lines were quite smelly needless to say.

The immediate solution was to pump hydrogen peroxide into the new hospital wings sump. It would take about an 8 to 1 ratio of peroxide to storm water entering the sump hole. This was a difficult problem to calculate as the sump water volume varied. We simply introduced adequate peroxide timed with sump pumping at max to overcome all H2S issues. We used 35% technical grade H2O2 and fed directly into the sump hole with controls to prevent over-dosing. The system was inexpensive and worked very well. This system was operational within hours and both the hospital and library were re-opened.The long term solution is of course to repair the sewer lines (very expensive for most cities and is usually done with other infrastructure upgrades such as road improvements).

So back to your apartment problem. How are the fumes allowed to enter the building? Traps on the plumbing (toilets, sinks, etc) are mandated by code but some older building may be in violation. These issues should be resolved asap. If it is a result of sump hole problems, then a treatment such as described above may be in order. Other problems may even stem from sewer leakage water around the foundation but even this water must enter the sump hole(s).

Good Luck

Your reply was the best yet and I appreciate your response immensely. (Not a good speller but I think you'll get the picture.) Today their mainenance man came to plunge the two toilets and I told him I have been doing that for over a year and if the issue was not resolved I was moving and going to sue the management and owners of the complex. He informed me he was going to speak with the manager not the supervisor of him but the manager. I did not reply. I am already packing as I now have 5 people that it has made them sick and I am going to the doctor to get letters written to break my lease. Wish me luck. I'm a retired woman of 71 years young but I feel I have a valid case and someone will take it for me I pray. Wish me luck>

Jen

hey Kev, what about all the sulphur produced by the redox reaction? do you just leave this up to the water department?

Hello Flipflop:

The leakage or ex-filtration of sewers into an aquifer would technically be an issue for the regulating authority. (Property owners do not necessarily own the groundwater). Often the regulating authority for grounwater aquifers is a state/provincial or national body. However, the expense to correct some of these issues is ongoing and usually local. As I stated, correction is often part of a long term infrastructure project. Identifying the problem and reporting it to the local utility would be a means of getting priority for these city projects. Report the problem to the state/EPA agencies can involve them and help to encourage a higher profile.

In the case in question, the problem still is unidentified and unresolved. The interaction between the sewer organic material, the aquifer, and reduction processes of nature are complex but well known. Methane can even be generated by reduction processes and that can lend support to "action as urgent" in an urban environment. This reduction is not unlike that found in landfill sites. F. Chapelle's, "Groundwater Microbiology and Geochemistry" is an interesting easy to read book if more info is needed on this subject.

Our use of peroxide was acceptable to discharge into storm drains via the sump hole. Peroxide breaks down to form water and oxygen (H2O2-->H2O + O) and is non-toxic at low levels. Chlorine was considered but proved dangerous to aquatic life at the storms sewers outfall.

So do you leave it up to the local water department? Usually, they are the first contact and from there you move up the ladders of responsibility. Eventually someone will respond and investigate the problem properly. Keep harping!

well noted Kev. thanx for the quick response.