Glenpool Gives Update On New Sewage Plant; Discusses Short-Term Solution To Fix Odor Issues In Town

Some people in Glenpool say a sewage smell around town is almost unbearable.

The city plans to build a new $60 million sewage plant, while also working now, to fix the smell issues.

We talked to people on and off camera about the smell. Some say it makes them sick, others say they only smell it every now and then, while some don’t smell it at all.

Every once in a while, Linda Cupps steps outside and smells something foul.

“I want to go back inside, I don’t want to be outside because sometimes it really does smell, I’ve smelt it before," she said.

Linda has lived in Glenpool for 25 years and says it’s not all the time she smells the sewage, just sometimes.

“It’s not every day, it could be maybe once a month, maybe not even that, maybe once every three months, but it is pretty bad when it is here,” she said.

City manager David Tillotson says the city plans to build a new sewer plant, changing from a lagoon-type plant to a mechanical one.

"The sludge removal processes, the drying areas, those we are doing our best to enclose that as part of this process, to mitigate any type of odors that would happen there," Tillotson said.

He says they aren't ignoring the odor issues happening now and are working on that too.

"Is there better ways to increase that air intake, called dissolved oxygen for the plant, we're also looking at some different chemicals that will react differently within the lagoon system, that we believe could be beneficial to that odor control," Tillotson said.

Linda hopes the new plant will permanently fix the issues so she can enjoy her time outside with her husband and her pup.

“Come on Glenpool, let’s clean up, let’s clean up the streets and the pipes and the sewage and everything, that’d be great," she said.

The city says the goal is to have the new plant complete in the fall of 2026.