Origin of mysterious Jacksonville odor still unclear, city says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville has a history of being known as the city that stinks.

In the 1990s that problem was corrected but on Wednesday morning thousands in the city were reminded just how bad it can smell.

An unidentified stench blanketed Jacksonville and the surrounding areas as the sun rose over the River City. News4Jax tried to find out where the smell was coming from and what is being done about it.

Some local manufacturers who were suspected of being the culprit denied any responsibility when asked by News4Jax.

But even after many complaints, the city does not know where the smell came from or if it’s going to return.

The city said it received 30 complaints Wednesday morning.

A map shows the ZIP code locations where the complaints came from but there were complaints in Clay and St. Johns County as well and lots of calls to the newsroom.

News4Jax checked several known odor sources from the past but city environmental experts so far said they don’t have a clue. News4Jax checked with the environmental protection board while it was conducting an awards ceremony and would not talk with us on camera about the problem. That makes some of those who smelled the stench this morning somewhat leery.

The Jacksonville fire department also was also receiving complaints but was not able to find the culprit.

It was that rotten egg smell that helped the late Tommy Hazouri become mayor of Jacksonville in 1987. He was elected on an anti-odor campaign because of that smell that always hung over the city.

A Channel 4 documentary “The Smell of Money” also helped to eliminate the problem. At that time there were two pulp mills and three chemical plants were believed to be the smelliest offenders.

Those paper mills are gone, but there are still two chemical plants here. So far they have not been named as the source.


About the Author:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.