County officials are hoping improvements to the Ceres Industrial Complex lagoon can make a stinky situation better.

The lagoon, which is basically a sewage treatment facility, has been the subject of a foul odor for quite some time due mainly to a thick sludge and needed upgrades to the facility.

County administrator John Smith told the Warren County Board of Supervisors during their work session last week that Port Commission executive director Pablo Diaz informed him a couple weeks ago it would cost approximately $600,000 to remove the sludge. The process would involve basically the same concept as emptying a septic tank.

Smith said the Port Commission cannot borrow money to pay the cost, so the board would have to do so and asked what are the expectations in paying the money back.

Supervisor John Arnold, however, said the situation has changed in solving the problem.

He said Diaz informed him the company in charge of the lagoon is suggesting two of the 15-horsepower aerators should be replaced with a pair of 40-horsepower aerators, as well as add two more 40-horsepower aerators, which would cut down on the stench.

“They think that will stir it up enough to move the sludge into cell two,” Arnold said.

“We could end up buying another 5-7 years with the lagoon.”

When the industrial park was created in 1987 near Flowers, the lagoon was designed to treat household-type sewage with a single-cell. When Tyson Foods, Inc., which processes chicken at the industrial park was constructed, a second cell in the lagoon was created for the biological waste from the facility.

Tyson is expected to upgrade their facility and increase production, which would lead to more solid waste in the lagoon, according to board president Richard George.

“The aerators that were fine 15 years ago are no longer fine, so if you upgrade them and keep them going and stir the stuff and keep it more in a liquefied form, it will be able to move and settle out instead of being more stagnant and building up,” George said.

George said upgrading the aerators could solve the immediate problem and allow the county to buy some time and put away the funds needed to pay for the sludge removal in the lagoon in a few years.

“If you get this thing lined up and buy yourself some time and start putting away some money because you’re going to have to do it,” George said. “This is a good thing short-term, but it’s also putting you on notice.”