What's That Smell? Something Is Stinking Up Aspen's Crisp Winter Air

When most people think of Aspen -- those not living in the Colorado skiing destination -- they probably picture a perfect white blanketed landscape with crisp, cool smelling mountain air. Unfortunately though, some residents in town have been wrinkling their noses each time they take a whiff and officials aren't quite sure what is going on.

The issue has been traced to a problem at the Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District. The Aspen Daily News reported the operations manager Nathan Nelson saying something must not be working with the odor control system, but he's not sure what:

Nelson has sent samples of the system’s “media,” which consists of redwood chips and rocks that bacteria grows in, to the manufacturer. Biorem, the Canada-based company, said the sample came back normal. An air sample was sent out last week and Nelson is awaiting the results, in the hopes of determining where the breakdown might be in the process.

Residents in the area told the Aspen Daily News there are probably 10 days -- not in a row -- out of the year when the smell gets bad -- it's part of the territory. But this stench has stuck around for two to three weeks at this point.

Nelson too acknowledged that some smell cannot be avoided.

“We are not treating roses down here,” he said to the Daily News, but noted that wastewater treatment is still going on perfectly normal at the facility and that the smell should not alarm residents about that operation.

Watch this report from CBS Denver regarding the stinkin' situation:

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.