‘Hopefully we’re on the right track’: Moncton’s north end smell being addressed

The infamous smell of Moncton’s north end is one step closer to no longer being the talk of the city.

A town hall meeting was held Wednesday night to help get everyone on the same page. That included fed-up residents, Moncton council, Environment New Brunswick and TransAqua, the facility behind the strong odor.

“We’re further ahead now than we were two years ago, and hopefully we are on the right track,” said Deputy Mayor Bryan Butler, who lives in the north end. “I think everybody in that room last night felt a little bit… it didn’t satisfy everybody, but it satisfied some.”

Butler says between 60 and 70 people showed up to talk about solutions and next steps, which are currently already in motion.

“I think it was very important also to know that TransAqua is doing their part,” he said. “They bought another piece of land in Kent County about 50 miles from here and they’re taking some of their solid waste up there. They’re going to start in the next couple of weeks.”

He says on top of the new piece of land, the wastewater composting facility is also buying new tarps which are meant to serve as a filtering system for the smell.

“Hopefully we should see some difference probably in the new year,” he said.

Butler said that residents took the opportunity to express frustrations and vent around the strong smell.

“Environment New Brunswick, they stated that they were going to try to make this clumsy reporting form a little bit easier,” he said.

“Now you have to go fill out a form, scan it, put it into your file and send it by email. So they’re going to try to do it so you can even send it from your phone,” he said. This should help make the process less frustrating for people searching for information.

When asked about why it has taken so long to come up with a solution to stop the smell, there were a number of factors at play, but a short-term plan was put in place.

"We were in the process of doing it and then when COVID-19 happened, everything went on hold. People couldn't come and do the testing, and when the study was done, we had to make sure, we had to be absolutely positive,” he said.

“It came out that finally it was TransAqua that the smell was coming from, so then they went to them. They came up with that short-term plan with a fogger. They wouldn't turn the piles with certain weather directions, wind directions. So I think it took awhile, but again, we're on the right track."

CTV Atlantic reached out to TransAqua, but no one was available for an interview on Thursday.

Another town hall meeting is scheduled for the Spring.