MILWAUKEE — Anyone who drives over the Hoan Bridge will now notice a visual difference at Jones Island.
The exhaust at Jones Island will disappear temporarily as workers repair cracks in massive ducts that feed treated exhaust from Milorganite dryers up a 350-foot-tall smokestack, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) announced Monday.
"We have a second way of emitting all that exhaust. It'll come out of the roof of the Milogranite building, instead of the stack," said Patrick Obenauf, Manager of Contract Compliance at Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Obenauf said things will just look different and smell different.
However, under certain conditions, drivers can be impacted by the exhaust plume near the Hoan Bridge.
"It has to be rare conditions," Obenauf said. "It needs to be really humid and there has to be a southwest wind that would blow that humid steam at the Hoan Bridge."
If visibility, icing, or safety issues occur, MMSD says it can reduce operations or shut the Milorganite facility down.
MMSD said the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will also be monitoring several cameras on the Hoan Bridge to determine if operations need to be calibrated down or shut down.
"Since the exhaust will discharge into the atmosphere approximately 10 stories above ground instead of 35 stories above ground, the distribution of odors into the air will change, depending on wind direction," MMSD said in a statement Monday.
For residents like Robin Rickmeier, the smell is a major issue.
"Kind of ripe trash," Rickmeier laughed. "I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse."
Obenauf said the smell may just be a little stronger, but nothing too severe.
Exhaust air will go through pollution prevention equipment prior to being released, MMSD says.
The change went into effect Monday and may last through the end of the year.
MMSD shared this video of what the exhaust plume is expected to look like most of the time:
