Residents concerned with smell from Crescent Hill Reservoir project

The Crescent Hill Reservoir in Louisville is undergoing a four-year upgrade, which involves draining 110 million gallons of water from its two basins, causing odor and noise concerns among neighbors.Since June, Louisville Water has been working to replace a heavy-duty liner in each of the basins. As they make progress, a neighbor reached out, saying they’ve been hearing an alarm and noticing a smell. Standing at the site, the smell is noticeable.Louisville Water needs to replace the aging liner in these basins to prevent leaks. The work is first focused on the north basin, which is almost completely drained. WLKY NewsChopper observed sediment, mud, and even fish left behind from the process, resulting in a smell that neighbors, like Ben Kemble, have noticed.”I haven’t been able to schedule any, any events at my house because of, well, the sounds of the construction. And, you know, the smell is really bad as well,” Kemble said.Louisville Water said the smell should diminish soon as they remove the material. Another issue Kemble noticed is an alarm going off.”It’s really loud and disturbing. And with the acoustics on the reservoir here, you can hear it throughout the neighborhood,” Kemble said.Louisville Water explained they have temporary pumps in place to drain the water out of the basins so it can be dry enough to remove the sediment. They said anytime those pumps have a minor malfunction, it sets off an alarm, so they’re ordering a new one without that same type of alarm, which will take a few weeks to come in.”In the meantime, we’re not going to operate the pump over weekends when their staff might not be available. So any time the alarm might go off in the next few weeks, we feel as if we’ll be able to immediately address it,” Louisville Water said.Kemble hopes it gets better, saying, “I know progress takes time, but it’s starting to become a little much.”