A stench from the sewage system that serves Dalton Ranch has been worse than usual lately, several residents say.

The pungent odor has been particularly annoying for residents who live downwind along golf course holes 3, 4 and 5.

“It’s been so bad the last few days that there’s a gag response if you go outside,” Kathy Cohen said Friday.

There’s been a periodic odor problem for years, Cohen said. But it’s been worse the past 45 days, she said.

“We can’t open our windows at night,” Cohen said.

Amy Brunvald, who lives in the same area, said the smell has been stronger in the morning.

“It’s a very bad smell,” Brunvald said.

Peter Pritchard, a resident of South Dalton, has noticed the odor for the nine years he’s lived there.

“Every spring or summer when the rains start, it’s noticeable,” Pritchard said. “It’s hard to miss.”

The Hermosa Sanitation District serves several hundred homes north and south of Trimble Road (County Road 252) in the Animas Valley. Residents pay $69 quarterly for service.

Sewage is piped to three lagoons near a gravel pit south of Trimble where it is aerated, treated and then discharged to the Animas River.

Cap Allen, an engineering consultant in Dolores, who designed and built the system in 1983, said periodic odors can be expected.

“It happens,” Allen said. “After all, it’s sewage.”

Temperature changes tend to cause the effluent in the ponds to turn over, bringing organic matter to the surface, Allen said.

Allen has nothing to do with the operation of Hermosa Sanitation District. Bud Fitt, the on-call manager, was in New York for a wedding and unavailable to comment.

Allen said that years ago when an asphalt plant was built at a gravel pit near Dalton Ranch, La Plata County planning documents carried a warning that there could be pungent smells.

A plat map for Dalton Ranch may not carry the caveat, Allen said.

daler@durangoherald.com