Picture strolling around Bonnyville on a nice spring day, the sun is out, a gentle breeze is blowing and then all of a sudden you are hit with it - the distinctive smell of Jessie Lake.
The local lake located on the south side of town is known for the putrid odour that can be smelled around town at this time of year, but the lake isn't the only culprit.
“A lot of that smell is attributed to Jessie Lake, but if the wind is coming from the southwest, particularity those nice, gentle winds, it is the sewage lagoon that you are smelling,” said Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewkski.
“I know my sewers and that is what it is. It is not Jessie Lake.”
The local sewage lagoon is located four miles southwest of the Town of Bonnyville. Sometimes during the spring and fall winds can pick up some of the foul scent of the lagoon and carry it into town.
“It is generally the soft, gentle winds that carry the odour,” said Sobolewksi. “It happens when the lagoon is starting to turn over and the bacteria is starting to activate again.”
While the really filthy smell that works its way into town is from the local sewage lagoon, there is also another well-known scent that comes from Jessie Lake.
How big a culprit Jessie Lake is to the vile stench varies depending on whom you ask.
Sobolewski admits that Jessie Lake itself does have a distinct smell but feels that most of the time the raunchy odour people catch a whiff of comes from the lagoon.
Town CAO Mark Power also wasn't reserved in acknowledging that the local lake emits an unpleasant smell.
“In spring and fall when there is just that smell you have in town and the wind is not from the west, that smell is Jessie Lake. That is just vegetation that is turning over,” said Power.
Every year when Jessie Lake thaws the lake turns over and the warmer water at the bottom rises to the top and sends the cooler water to the bottom. When this shift takes place a lot of the vegetation and sediment is also brought to the surface.
“We get people reporting that they are seeing bubbles in the lake. All kinds of bubbles happen and lots of good stuff is released,” said Power.
Now this phenomenon isn't specific to Jessie Lake. Most other eutrophic lakes go through the same process and see the water turn over and shift when the ice melts. The difference is that Jessie Lake is shallower, smaller and jam-packed with nutrients, which results in the emitted smell being a lot more concentrated.
Both Power and Sobolewski confirmed that the Town currently doesn't dump anything, such as sewage, into the lake and that the day-to-day stink is au naturale
“What you are smelling now is bird (poop) and rotting vegetation, it is not pleasant,” said Power.
However there is some truth to the rumour that the Town did once use the lake as its dumping grounds.
According to Power, years and years ago the Town used to have another lagoon, which used to have a lot of materials dumped into it. The liquid from the old lagoon used to drain into Jessie Lake.
Currently the only water the Town drains into Jessie Lake is the local storm sewer water.
“All of our storm sewer goes into it, not sanitary sewer like from houses. It is just the storm water that comes off the streets and lawns,” said Roy Runzer, Acting Manager of the local water treatment plant.
“The water that comes off the street isn't exactly the same as what would come off of natural bush.”
As for a solution, those with the Town say there really isn't a feasible way to fix the putrid smell the lake emits. Those in town are just going to have to get used to it, and hope the winds never blow from the west.
