Do you think Kingsport stinks ? (Colonial Heights: living in, air quality, vacation)

[TNGal78]

Just wondering.

I have lived in Colonial Heights/Kingsport area all my life. It surprised me (when I worked in JC) when my coworkers asked me how I could stand living in Kingsport because it stinks.

Granted--- there is almost always a bad smell down near the wastewater treatment plant but I am not talking about that one specific area.

Sometimes now and then you will get a strange smell from Eastman but that has greatly improved since I was little. Me and my husband both work there now and I rarely smell anything.


I am just wondering if I have lived here so long I am used to it or what ??

[kamoshika]

Growing up there in the '60s and '70s,the smell was really bad. But now it's not nearly as strong (most of the time) and the odor "footprint" is much smaller, maybe a 1/2 mile radius around Domtar and Eastman. I live about 1/2 mile from Eastman and I only catch a malodorous whiff from there maybe two or three days a month. Over by the mall, it's smelly more often.

[Jim37680]

Over the last 20-25 years tremendous strides were made to contain vapors and odors in Eastman processes and to scrub those that still escaped from the air of process buildings. The most obnoxious and far traveling smell was that of butyric acid which can be detected by humans at 10 ppm, maybe less. It is used in making certain plastics. It is also what gives Parmesan cheese it's "wonderful" aroma when sprinkled on pizza or salads. It's still in use there- it just doesn't get out as much.

I don't know as much about the paper plant but my understanding is that the newer paper machines and wood digesting processes are much improved and contain odors very effectively. The papers machines used in the 1950s and 60s are gone. The chemistry is the same but the odors, like those at Eastman, don't get out on the town as often. I think that the paper plant smell was mostly hydrogen sulfide from the digestion process where the lignin is removed from the wood pulp for making fine papers.

[rccrain]

Good to hear Jim.

[TNGal78]

I think Kingsport is a great place to live ! Apparently there are still a lot of people who don't live in Kingsport who are biased against the smell. Maybe they had a bad experience once.

Eastman has done a lot to improve air quality and the impact on the environment. Most of what they release is steam.

[GvilleTN]

Honestly, I still smell it every time I’m there. It is a very weird smell that is hard to describe. I was actually in Kingsport last week, and the smell was really bad for some reason.

I assume that the people who live in Kingsport just get used to it after awhile, so they likely don’t even notice it. For those of us who just visit Kingsport occasionally, the smell is still very noticeable.

[SmokyMtnPeace]

I don't live in the Tri-Cities area, but we have smelled what everyone is talking about when we stopped off for lunch in route to a vacation in the Smokies. We also wanted to check out the area, and found the smell to be a turn off for us personally. Each to their own I suppose; otherwise, it was a nice area.

[AppalachianAngler]

Originally Posted by GvilleTN

Honestly, I still smell it every time I’m there. It is a very weird smell that is hard to describe. I was actually in Kingsport last week, and the smell was really bad for some reason.

I assume that the people who live in Kingsport just get used to it after awhile, so they likely don’t even notice it. For those of us who just visit Kingsport occasionally, the smell is still very noticeable.

I agree with this completely.

[TNGal78]

I am not saying others don't smell it. It's just that I don't. My family doesn't,either. Maybe we are used to it.

EXCEPT the wastewater treatment area. YUCK. Now that is one horrible smell.

[Beretta]

Growing up in Kingsport we were used to it but when we left town and came back (John B Dennis) it would hit us. Dad (who worked at Eastman) would always say: That's the smell of money!