St. Albert residents may have noticed a foul smell coming from the Sturgeon River, but according to the city, it’s totally normal.
Each year over the winter, ice covers the river and the oxygen level in the water lowers, so the vegetation in it starts to decompose.
“Through that chemical process, there are sulfur-containing compounds that are produced, so when the ice starts to melt and the river starts to flow, that sulfur smell starts to emerge,” said Melissa Logan, the environmental coordinator for Sturgeon River with the city of St. Albert.
The smell is something that is common to all bodies of water in the province.
Logan said that some lakes are aerated over the winter to reduce or prevent the smell, but that can’t be done in the Sturgeon River.
While the smell this year is no worse than average, it can be more pungent in the Sturgeon River than others. Logan said that’s because it is shallow, less than a metre deep, and has a lower water flow over the winter.
The smell doesn’t prevent people from getting out and enjoying the river, but Logan adds residents should be extra cautious in the spring.
“The flows are a little bit higher, the water can be moving a bit faster, it can be a little deeper, and there could be some debris that kind of comes off the landscape,” she said.
The smell is expected to dissipate over the next few weeks.
