ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — Joanne McClellan loves to be outside. Her horses, garden, and numerous bird houses and bird feeders indicate that.
However, recently, she's noticed a change in the air.
"The odor started a few months ago,' McClellan said.
At first, she thought somebody had created a hog farm. She then moved on to other suspicions.
"We thought it was our septic that went bad. We had that checked. Nope. Nothing is wrong with our septic."
She said the odor comes and goes, but when it comes, "it's making my eyes water. I can feel it in my lungs. It stinks to high heaven! I feel like I'm going to go inside and still smell it," McClellan said.
She lives on Carter Road, just off County Road 214. She and some of her neighbors wonder if the odor is coming from the nearby Indianhead Biomass facility. It takes treated human waste and mixes it with organic material to make composting dirt.
Indianhead Biomass Services spokesperson Heather Lane Neville stood next to a truckload of the dirt product. She picked up a handful of it and said "It's great!" She and the manager of the facility told First Coast News Tuesday that nothing has changed in their business practices recently. And remember, McClellan said the odor started in the last few months.
Lane-Neville said, "This has been the same operation now for five years."
She said 15 truck-fulls of sludge are dropped off at the site daily.
"When the sludge comes, does it smell great? Nope. Not at that moment," Lane-Neville said. "But as soon as it gets here, we mix it. We’re just turning it into compost. And it's immediately. That's as soon as it gets on the property, it’s not stored anywhere.”
First Coast News smelled a slight odor while on the property, but it was not overwhelming at all.
However, when First Coast News was in the area Monday, the odor was very strong on Carter Road, near McClellan's home. It smelled like human waste.
There is also a recycling plant in the area and a county landfill. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is working to find the source of the smell. Also, St. Johns County code enforcement traveled the area Monday and did not detect anything.
That case has been referred to the Florida Department of Health.
As for McClellan, she said, "I just want the stench to stop."