A foul smell emanating from the Oland Brewery is plaguing the north end of Halifax, and it’s not a bad batch of beer.
The company confirms it’s trying to fix the problem, but isn’t sure when the stench will go away.
Area resident Jeff Fish is worried the smell is keeping people away from the neighbourhood.
“Lately there has been a very pungent, sewage-like odour that is obviously from the brewery itself,” says Fish, who works from home.
“I’m disturbed by it because it’s something I smell outside of our house, it’s something I smell in the neighbourhood. There’s a lot of local businesses that are in the area and I worry about whether or not people are deterred from even walking around.”
Oland officials say the brewery’s $13-million biological treatment system is to blame. The brewery started cleaning its own wastewater in May, but the smell is lingering.
“We do take it seriously and we know we are in a mixed neighbourhood with lots of residential houses,” says Wade Keller, spokesman for Labatt Breweries of Canada. “We do want it fixed as well.”
Brewery officials say there’s an issue with a device called a scrubber, which is supposed to control the odour. They are working with a company in New Brunswick that installed the scrubber, but can’t say when it will be fixed.
“We hope to have the problem fixed sooner, rather than later,” says Keller.
John Stickney, who works at a barber shop across from the brewery, says he’s optimistic a solution will be found soon.
“They will clean it up. They want to be looked at well in the community and everything like that, I know they do,” says Stickney.
Oland has flown in experts from the United States to assess the problem. They say it will take some trial and error, but they are working toward a solution.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl
