Residents here think something really stinks.
They say for the past month the odor from the lagoons at the Cache Valley Cheese plant has once again become unbearable.Bill Gough, who lives a half mile from the Cache County plant, said the odor is worse this month than ever before.
"It's to the point now where it's just not livable," he said. "Words can't describe it. Every night when the breeze starts blowing east, you turn off the swamp cooler and shut up all the windows or you will throw up. Then you sit in your home and swelter in the heat."
It is not a new issue for Amalga. For more than 10 years, residents have had the same complaint. Last year, plant officials began treating the lagoons with a new chemical, potassium permanganate, to increase bacterial breakdown. It worked. But the odor is back again.
Plant manager Rex Gleason said an excess volume of milk coming into the system has forced the company to discharge a large amount of whey into the lagoons.
"Our production is up almost 10 percent, and with the amount of milk we've been running, we do what we can," he said. "But we can't seem to get a step ahead of the odor."
Although water is being treated by chemicals and aerators, Gleason said the summer's weather has taken its toll. Hot, dry conditions cause the bacteria that breaks down the whey to work faster.