Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) investigated a foul odor smelled around the city on Thursday and confirmed it was not emanating from any of its facilities.

According to a social media post sent late Thursday afternoon, GRU gave an update stating, “We have walked local creeks, investigated areas where customers have reported foul smells and found no evidence that the odor is related to GRU’s facilities,” adding that GRU’s lift stations and reclamation facilities are all operating under normal conditions.

The post went on to say that wastewater spills occur now and again but are limited to small areas that don’t produce a smell that would encompass large portions of the community that residents are witnessing today.

An earlier GRU post said that customers had reported a manure or fertilizer smell around Gainesville and inquired if it was related to a sewage spill.

Comments on GRU’s Facebook page ranged from “My guess is some farm on outskirts of town is spray manuring their fields and wind is blowing stench south” to “Archer Road/Butler Plaza area smells like barf and the inside of a garbage truck mixed together.”

Another person said, “It’s definitely pungent off University Ave near the campus” along with other residents saying, “Yep, smells like pooh when I pen our front door…” and “it was purely awful at the Wawa on 13^th St. around noon. Smelled like straight up sewage on the outside of the building.”

A Thursday morning GRU social media post said that a few weeks ago, GRU responded to a wastewater release off Newberry Road. GRU found a lift station that was clogged due to non-flushable wipes and grease and stated the overflow is a prime example of why it’s important to keep unflushables out the system, which leads to costly repairs.  

Unflushables are wipes, paper towels, and grease that don’t break down and can cause sewage spills, according to the post, with GRU advising residents to, “only flush the 3 P’s: (toilet) paper, pee and poo!”