Lititz Run-Grey/waste water intrusion?

ntallen

ntallen

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2022
Messages
49
City
Lancaster, PA
This has been bugging me for a while and I’ve never known who/where to throw this question:

Has anyone else noticed a distinctly laundry-like scent emanating from Lititz run, or any other stream for that matter?

I notice the smell at Millport Conservancy at the footbridge near Warwick rd (near the pond and the heavy restoration work immediately upstream). It is consistent and fragrant; I notice it all times of the year. The intensity of the laundry detergent scent makes me suspect that someone must be dumping (or leaking) grey water into the stream.

I’ve noticed a similar smell on marginal streams, especially those in Amish-afflicted or poorly maintained areas—Lititz run is, of course, managed and in a state of active conservation work. Is there a natural source of this laundry-like scent?

Similar topic, I am highly suspicious of the handling of wastewater by Mister car wash-you can smell their nasty effluent all around manheim pike. I have a decently large sniffer, but a mediocre sense of smell. Anyone knowledgeable on waste water management/policy?
 
Call the Township Waste Water facility and report your findings. I have many family/friends in the business and I hear stories of businesses complaining about up-charges for waste water that needs extra processing. It can be costly and when that happens they may find alternate means of disposal.
 
Gotta say I’ve noticed the laundry aroma of Lititz Run since the first time I fished it and always presumed there was a wastewater treatment plant ($#!+ plant) upstream from the Millport meat hole, but your post made me want to check for sure.

That’s exactly what’s going on. The Lititz WWTP is maybe a mile upstream from Millport, and the official address is 50 Lititz Run Road. The outflow, however, appears to be just a bit upstream from the Clay Road bridge. Interestingly, just upstream from the Lititz Run Road bridge, more or less across from the WWTP, is the Robert B. Koch cooperative trout nursery managed by the Lititz Sportsmen’s Association.
Though the smell is very noticeable to me, and, evidently, you, it looks like the water quality coming out of the plant is pretty good as they have a series of treatment steps that concludes with a 10 micron filter (10 microns being about the size of an individual grain of pollen), as well as an ultraviolet decontamination facility.

(https://www.entecheng.com/files/projects/lititzbiologicalnutrientsremovalupgrade.pdf)

It’s probably because they’re using UV for decontamination instead of the more traditional method of chlorination for the final disinfectant. Though chlorine might mitigate the smell, it is also pretty deadly to fish and insects, depending on the concentration. UV is definitely better for trout than chlorine.

The other thing that’s always worth checking is how much wastewater is coming into a creek relative to the total flow. This takes a bit of math because WWTP flow is measured in millions of gallons per day, and streamflow is measured in cubic feet per second.

The WWTP has capacity to treat up to 4.8 million gallons per day, but operates at an average of 3.85 million gallons per day.

The creek has an average flow of 19.7 cubic feet per second, which is based on a year worth of data, taking into account low flows and floods).

(https://www.srbc.gov/continuous-ins...ofile?cimSystemsId=2&monitoringStationsId=116)

There 7.48 gallons in a cubic foot, so the stream’s flow in gallons is 147 gallons per second. That means, on average the daily flow is 60 seconds X 60 minutes X 24 hours X 147, or roughly 12.7 million gallons per day. That puts the amount of wwtp discharge in the creek as a whole at 30 percent of the total, on average. That’s a fairly high concentration of discharge, which is probably why the laundry smell is so evident.

Keep in mind, though we think of the WWTP as being responsible for dealing with No. 1 and No. 2, most of the water that comes out of a house (at an average rate of 180 gallons per person per day) is from taking showers, washing clothes and running the dishwasher. Toilet flushes constitute a relatively small part of raw sewage. Given this reality, it has become fashionable, and fairly accurate, to refer to such effluent as “gray water.” But, strictly speaking, it is an unpleasant mix of everything that goes down the drain.

It's really a wonder of modern technology that it’s possible for trout to live in a creek that can be as much as one third treated sewage, so I’m inclined to tolerate the smell. I recall when I was a kid, the a wwtp on a trout stream meant that it was dead from that point down. I know it’s become fashionable to refer to strict regulations about what can be dumped into a stream as “unnecessary red tape and over-regulation,” but I’d hate to see a return to the days when a sewage treatment plant was a stream killer.
 
I remember one year there was no water coming over the boards up from hatchery inflow so the only water in the stream was the hatchery outflow and the sewer plant outlet just down from it.
 
JimKennedy said:
Gotta say I’ve noticed the laundry aroma of Lititz Run since the first time I fished it and always presumed there was a wastewater treatment plant ($#!+ plant) upstream from the Millport meat hole, but your post made me want to check for sure.

That’s exactly what’s going on. The Lititz WWTP is maybe a mile upstream from Millport, and the official address is 50 Lititz Run Road. The outflow, however, appears to be just a bit upstream from the Clay Road bridge. Interestingly, just upstream from the Lititz Run Road bridge, more or less across from the WWTP, is the Robert B. Koch cooperative trout nursery managed by the Lititz Sportsmen’s Association.
Though the smell is very noticeable to me, and, evidently, you, it looks like the water quality coming out of the plant is pretty good as they have a series of treatment steps that concludes with a 10 micron filter (10 microns being about the size of an individual grain of pollen), as well as an ultraviolet decontamination facility.

(https://www.entecheng.com/files/projects/lititzbiologicalnutrientsremovalupgrade.pdf)

It’s probably because they’re using UV for decontamination instead of the more traditional method of chlorination for the final disinfectant. Though chlorine might mitigate the smell, it is also pretty deadly to fish and insects, depending on the concentration. UV is definitely better for trout than chlorine.

The other thing that’s always worth checking is how much wastewater is coming into a creek relative to the total flow. This takes a bit of math because WWTP flow is measured in millions of gallons per day, and streamflow is measured in cubic feet per second.

The WWTP has capacity to treat up to 4.8 million gallons per day, but operates at an average of 3.85 million gallons per day.

The creek has an average flow of 19.7 cubic feet per second, which is based on a year worth of data, taking into account low flows and floods).

(https://www.srbc.gov/continuous-ins...ofile?cimSystemsId=2&monitoringStationsId=116)

There 7.48 gallons in a cubic foot, so the stream’s flow in gallons is 147 gallons per second. That means, on average the daily flow is 60 seconds X 60 minutes X 24 hours X 147, or roughly 12.7 million gallons per day. That puts the amount of wwtp discharge in the creek as a whole at 30 percent of the total, on average. That’s a fairly high concentration of discharge, which is probably why the laundry smell is so evident.

Keep in mind, though we think of the WWTP as being responsible for dealing with No. 1 and No. 2, most of the water that comes out of a house (at an average rate of 180 gallons per person per day) is from taking showers, washing clothes and running the dishwasher. Toilet flushes constitute a relatively small part of raw sewage. Given this reality, it has become fashionable, and fairly accurate, to refer to such effluent as “gray water.” But, strictly speaking, it is an unpleasant mix of everything that goes down the drain.

It's really a wonder of modern technology that it’s possible for trout to live in a creek that can be as much as one third treated sewage, so I’m inclined to tolerate the smell. I recall when I was a kid, the a wwtp on a trout stream meant that it was dead from that point down. I know it’s become fashionable to refer to strict regulations about what can be dumped into a stream as “unnecessary red tape and over-regulation,” but I’d hate to see a return to the days when a sewage treatment plant was a stream killer.
Click to expand...
Killer, comprehensive response. Thank you for the info and the perspective, Jim.

I’m a bit surprised that the UV treatment doesn’t bake out or de-scent the Perfumey VOCs, but clearly the nastier smelling stuff is destroyed by the process. I also failed to remember the proximity of the WWTP, figuring that the very spring source was basically immediately upstream of Millport.
 
Last edited:
ntallen said:
Killer, comprehensive response. Thank you for the info and the perspective, Jim.

I’m a bit surprised that the UV treatment doesn’t bake out or de-scent the Perfumey VOCs, but clearly the nastier smelling stuff is destroyed by the process. I also failed to remember the proximity of the WWTP, figuring that the very spring source was basically immediately upstream of Millport.
Click to expand...
Ntallen,
Where did you catch that catfish in your photo? Please do not feel obligated to spotburn the location.
 
Spring Creek has a similar laundry rinse water smell during low flows. Where the effluent from the big sewage plant flows into Spring Creek it makes up 40% of the flow of the creek during low periods.
 
JMP said:
Ntallen,
Where did you catch that catfish in your photo? Please do not feel obligated to spotburn the location.
Click to expand...
Funny story. Went out on a fall day to the little Schuylkill FFO with my wife and we saw cats everywhere—like a cat bomb went off. There was a man in a camper van with cats just busting out the seams, said he just had a new litter bringing him to twenty some odd cats. That guy pictured was the most outgoing of the bunch and probably would’ve let me fish with him in my waders.
 
Thanks for the story. I hope he was able to herd all of his cats before leaving.
 
ntallen said:
This has been bugging me for a while and I’ve never known who/where to throw this question:

Has anyone else noticed a distinctly laundry-like scent emanating from Lititz run, or any other stream for that matter?

I notice the smell at Millport Conservancy at the footbridge near Warwick rd (near the pond and the heavy restoration work immediately upstream). It is consistent and fragrant; I notice it all times of the year. The intensity of the laundry detergent scent makes me suspect that someone must be dumping (or leaking) grey water into the stream.

I’ve noticed a similar smell on marginal streams, especially those in Amish-afflicted or poorly maintained areas—Lititz run is, of course, managed and in a state of active conservation work. Is there a natural source of this laundry-like scent?

Similar topic, I am highly suspicious of the handling of wastewater by Mister car wash-you can smell their nasty effluent all around manheim pike. I have a decently large sniffer, but a mediocre sense of smell. Anyone knowledgeable on waste water management/policy?
Click to expand...
I cant remember the year, maybe 2002 but one summer the spring went completely dry during an extended drought. The only water in the Run was from the sewer plant. It smelled bad but all the trout survived.
 
I fished Lititz Run a handful of times. Was not inspired to return. The water was grey and had a foul odor as described. The fish also had a pale greyish appearance. All stocked of course. Years ago I used to fish the mouth where it enters the Conestoga and caught a few trout there. They had a better appearance.
I am surprised how popular Lititz Run is with fly fishermen but then again Lancaster County is not abundant with trout streams and they put some big fish in there. Unless they find a better way of handling that wastewater I cannot imagine Lititz run will ever amount to much. It is interesting how many true spring creeks we have in Lancaster although they've mostly all been wrecked by agriculture and development.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages

Share this page

Back
Top