What was that smell?
Residents around the hamlet of Lac La Biche were soured by an odour floating through the air at the start of May. Rotten eggs with a little bit of sewer, was how one facebook poster recently described it. Others say it was like sulphur.
Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi said he hadn't smelled the offending odour this year himself, but after getting a description, said in previous years, he remembers that it might have something to do with natural gas. He said the annual change from winter to lighter summer natural gas flow in transmission lines will sometimes produce a noticeable smell of sulfur. The smell comes from a harmless additive called mercaptan that is added to the odorless and tastless natural gas so it can be detected in the air.
Since most of the rotten-egg complaints were coming from outside the hamlet, where the municipality operates its own natural gas plant, the mayor suggested a call to the Lac La Biche and District Gas Co-op which operates the rural transmission.
Swampy solution
Senior staff at the gas co-op said they often get seasonal calls about strong odours, and while they didn't think it was due to their natural gas transmission, they said the smell could be natural gasses from Mother Nature's workshop. Staff say the foul smell is often related to swamps as the frozen-over stagnant water thaws as winter turns to spring.
Although they believed the smell was swamp-based, just to be on the safe side, Lac La Biche Natural Gas Co-op crews did tour several area subdivisions last week with gas-sensing equipment. When one of staff working in an area neighbourhood was asked if any natural gas had been detected in the air, he said there had been no reports. Staff at the co-op say they suspect the instances and severity of the sulfur smell will subside once winter's thaw is complete.
