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Growing up near the Cedar Creek plant

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When I was kid, I spent most sunny spring days at Cedar Creek Park. I’d ride my bike there with my family, play on the playground with my friends, and enjoy rolling down the verdant hills. Something I remember distinctively about the park was a certain sour smell that was always in the air. As a kid, I never knew what this smell was, but simply associated it with springtime. I figured maybe it was a strange type of flower that grew in the park. I later found out what I was really smelling was ripe sewage.

My parents used to always talk about how something needed to be done about the Cedar Creek sewage plant. I never knew exactly what would be done or anything specific about the plant, but what I did know was that it was affecting me. I grew up with severe asthma and remember days spent in the school nurse’s office getting a nebulizer treatment and testing my breathing rate with a peak-flow meter. Spring was when my asthma was worst because of a variety of aspects with the pollutants from the plant being one of them.

I went to elementary school at Seaford Harbor, right around the corner from Cedar Creek. Sometimes the smell was so strong, my teachers would have to shut the windows because it became so overbearing. And with the smell came my asthma. I had to request an air conditioner for every class I was in because the air became so harsh for my lungs. I eventually became somewhat of a hero for my classmates because we were guaranteed cool, fresh air during the harsh spring days.

Over time, my friends and I became more and more curious about what was actually in the plant. To us it was the Area 51 of Cedar Creek Park. We’d wander away from the playground and see how daring we were by going as close as we physically could to where the plant was. It was the unnamed monster of our friendly neighborhood park.

Flashing forward to present day, I’ve almost forgotten what that odor actually smelt like. But when I heard United Water was taking over I was more than eager to see how things would change. And getting to go inside the plant was a kind of cathartic adventure for me.

When we got to the main building and checked in we were given a helmet, vest, goggles and earplugs. We started by going into the heart of the plant where everything was pumped through giant machines. I started to smell the odor again, but it was so faint I could have brushed it off. Not only that, but the plant inside wasn’t nearly as scary as I could have imagined as a kid. Surely it must have been at some point, but when we walked through the other parts of the plant I didn’t really see anything that had me on edge. The entire experience was almost a tourist attraction in a way. I walked through knowing, as our tour guide, Dan Ryan, kept assuring, that “today was a new day.”