A mysterious odor that swept over West Davenport Monday, remains a mystery. The odor, which smelled like gas, forced eight Davenport schools to take precautions.
Harrison Elementary, Davenport North, and Kimberly Center were evacuated. Adams, Children's Village, Smart and Monroe schools had to open their windows because of the smell. Employee's at Genesis West also went home sick, complaining of nausea and headaches.
A similar thing happened on August 24th, but Mid-American said the smell isn't coming from their gas lines. Davenport Public Works investigated the mysterious odor that traveled through the city on Tuesday.
Public Works Director, Mike Clarke said the city exhausted all their options, like the sewer system. However, he said the schools that reported the smell are in different sanitary districts and do not use the same lines, so that theory was ruled out.
He said the department also considered local construction projects, like the West Side Diversion Tunnel. He said while there has been a lot of excavating there, no workers in that area reported the smell.
Then there are factories, like Purina, but Clarke said Purina puts off a dog food scent, not gas, and the other factories in the area are under such tight E.P.A. restrictions, public works would have been notified if there was a leak or spill of some kind.
Clarke went on to say Iowa American Water purifies their water, so it is odorless and a water main break could not have been the culprit.
Clarke said at this point the city is done investigating, but if it happens again they will now be better prepared to get to the bottom of the odor sooner. He said the only other possibilities discussed included trains or trucks bringing the smell to the area, but he said so many pass through Davenport that angle would be nearly impossible to investigate.
