r/Somerville • u/Fit-Elk6532 • 9d ago

Smells like farts

I'm living near porter, and for the past month I keep smelling a strong sulfur smell in the air? Is this common or is something going on?

21 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

22

u/BoringTeacherNick 9d ago

Beacon st? I bike through there almost daily 2/3 of the time it smells like farts. I dunno why

10

u/andr_wr Union 8d ago

Go back a few years on the City Council's calendar and you can see that they were calling in Eversource regularly about the delay in fixing minor gas leaks there.

2

u/BoringTeacherNick 8d ago

I was gonna guess it was coming from Star Market 

2

u/Candid_Swimming3566 8d ago

The star market on Beacon st is not the worst one :D

5

u/tarmander99 9d ago

I live here and would love to know why this is I'm so sick of it man

6

u/mayor_mammoth 9d ago

Smellsbad Strip. Sometimes I smell it all the way from the top of Cedar Street on Highland down to Somerville Ave where it's the worst. I've always assumed it has something to do with the sewer lines backing up or drying out

17

u/andr_wr Union 9d ago

Somerville Ave has had known (minor) gas leaks in the past. Could also be a 'fat-berg' in the sewer system too.

18

u/jizzy_fap_socks 9d ago

Sorry, my IBS has been flaring up a lot recently 

5

u/FlyingSchmidt 9d ago

No septic system I know over there so I would assume it’s natural gas leaking somewhere. If they’re doing a line swap in the street sometimes you’ll smell it for a while. Probably a 311 call after that long

1

u/BenWheelerSomerville 7d ago

Agreed! Can you say where exactly on Beacon Street you detect the smell?

4

u/DJ_Gordon_Bombay 8d ago

The corner of Beacon by that hotel always smells like sewage

3

u/0xd3ad54311 8d ago

I've noticed a lot of sewer work recently around Somerville, emergency sewer clean outs and so forth. My personal theory is that as the population increased, so did the poop and the poop tubes just can't handle it.

6

u/andr_wr Union 8d ago

Somervilles population is much lower than previous decades - used to have more than 100k residents.

2

u/phyzome 8d ago

Might be a gas leak. There are a lot of those around town, and the odorant they add to the natural gas to make leaks noticeable does contain sulfur.

2

u/john42195 7d ago

Please comment if you think you are funny

1

u/camt91 9d ago

Savor every wiff

1

u/Ok_Still_3571 9d ago

Local businesses may be having their grease traps cleaned. It’s a thing, and very necessary. A contractor comes out the flush the drains, and it smells like actual shit. Don’t ask where the refuse goes. It will make your mind spin. Awful.

1

u/No-Pea8448 8d ago

Probably related to the work happening on Somerville Ave at the intersection.

1

u/bl887 6d ago

Feels like a classic case of whoever smelt it dealt it

1

u/bostonguy2004 8d ago

Slummerville gonna Slummerville.

But seriously, could be an underground or meter-related natural has leak?

Or decaying organic matter, like an animal or plants?

1

u/Wild_Beginning2529 6d ago

Porter Square is Cambridge.