By Shianna Gibbons
Students of Youngstown State University have complained of strong sewage smells around central campus.
John Hyden, assistant vice president of Facilities Maintenance, said the sewer systems under the central campus are outdated.
“If you were building a new city today, you would have separate sewers. You’d have storm sewers, which would handle all the rainwater and the runoff water on the ground,” Hyden said. “Then, you’d have your sanitary sewer system that handles all the toilets and all the dirty water coming out of the buildings.”
The sewer system under campus is a combined sewer system. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s website, a combined sewer system handles rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and industrial wastewater in one pipe. Hyden said this system was put in place before becoming a campus.
“On campus, at one time, was a city block. There were houses all along Arlington Street, Lincoln Avenue, Elm and Bryson streets, and [those] sanitary sewers run throughout the middle of campus and are unfortunately combined sewers,” Hyden said. “There’s actually sewage that runs through from Beeghly Hall to Kilcawley Center [of] what used to be Elm and Bryson Street.”
According to Ohio’s EPA website, combined sewers are banned from being built in any new waste management project. Existing combined sewers are regulated to prevent overflow and pollution.
Hyden said the city of Youngstown has been slowly disconnecting buildings from the combined sewer system in areas around campus.
“They incrementally tried to separate them. They separated some down on the south end of Ward Beecher at Lincoln Avenue within the last five or ten years,” Hyden said. “On Wick Avenue they separated some of them, but it is something that’s probably going to take them another 30 years to get them all separated.”
Nicholas Geraci, a junior exercise science major, said the sewage smell is hard to bear and is becoming unavoidable.
“The first time [I smelt it] was in front of Cushwa [Hall]. The second time was by Fifth Avenue,” Geraci said. “It’s like right between Moser and Cushwa, and it’s unpleasant to walk around campus. When the wind blows in your face on your way to class, and you get a whiff of it, it’s not very fun.”
Aylene Cruz, an undecided freshman, decided to ask the YSU app if other students had noticed the smell too.
“Since the semester started, the smell has been pretty consistent and strong,” Cruz said. “If it’s out of [YSU’s] hands, I’ll just have to suck it up — if it were up to me — I would want something done.”
Hyden said during periods with no rain, the smell is a little more pungent, but there is nothing YSU can do to combat the smell.
“It’s certain times of the year, usually when we haven’t had a lot of rain, you start smelling it. When we have rain, it dilutes the sanitary sewage and washes out the pipes to a certain degree,” Hyden said. “What can be done about it? I’m not sure — short of repiping Youngstown — that you’re going to solve [the smell].”
