CASE STUDY / MUNICIPAL

Lift Station Odor Gone in a Day at Three Texas Stations, and Kept Away

Lift station odor complaints usually trace back to hydrogen sulfide (H2S), the gas that forms when bacteria run out of oxygen and strip it from sulfate instead. This case study covers three Texas lift stations where DRP Accelerator resolved active odor complaints, in each case within a day or less. At one of the three, fats, oils and grease (FOG) from a nearby restaurant were fouling the line as well as the air. All three moved from a higher starting dose to a much lower maintenance rate once the odor cleared, and held there. The record in each case is complaint based: the source document reports when businesses, a church and restaurant patrons stopped complaining, not instrument readings of H2S in parts per million (ppm). Read together, the three sites show how fast a continuous or batch dose can turn a station around, and how low the maintenance dose can go once the source is under control.

Three stations, three complaint sources, the same pattern: dose up, odor gone fast, dose down and it stays gone.

Lift station odor complaints often trace back to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, which forms when bacteria run out of oxygen and take it from sulfate instead.
At one Texas lift station, a continuous dose of 20 parts per million (ppm) of DRP Accelerator eliminated odor complaints within a day.
That same station's dose was cut to 10 ppm and held the odor away for three years, until the city replaced the lift station.
Belt changes on that station's surface motor fell by at least 90 percent once the sludge thinned.
A second station serving a university town used a once daily batch dose of 20 ppm, which flushed built up grease out of an eight inch pipe within three days.
A maintenance dose of 2 to 5 ppm, three times a week, kept that same grease line and its odor from returning.
A third station at a bayside boardwalk restaurant district eliminated odor complaints within hours of a 10 ppm dose, and the program was expanded to six stations.

Published September 24, 2026

The system

This case study covers three separate lift stations in Texas, documented in the same field paper on odor control. We are confirming written customer permission before naming any of the three.

The first is a ten foot diameter lift station, about twenty feet deep, in a small city west of Houston. A second, smaller collection pit sits about half a mile upstream and feeds into it. The second is a small lift station in a university town that gravity feeds a larger station downstream, at the bottom of a hill, where pumps move sludge on to the treatment plant a few miles away; the two stations are connected by an eight inch pipe. A fried food restaurant discharges into the smaller of the two. The third is a lift station in the parking lot of a bayside boardwalk restaurant and tourist district with outdoor patio seating. The source document does not give any of the three stations’ flow, service population, or the dates the work took place. For how we approach dosing a lift station generally, see our lift station H2S and odor control page.

The problem

At the first station, businesses on both sides complained to the city about the smell. One, a tire shop, reported that customers left because of it. A church about 100 yards away complained as well.

At the second, dishwashing grease from the fried food restaurant was building up on the walls of the eight inch line between the two stations, the kind of fats, oils and grease (FOG) buildup covered on our FOG removal page, slowing flow as well as causing odor. Complaints at the larger, downstream station were reported from as far away as 250 feet.

At the third, restaurant operators on the boardwalk reported customers leaving before they finished a meal because of the smell. The operators met and raised the lost business with the city.

What we did

At every site we dosed DRP Accelerator, an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater. We add no bacteria and no enzymes, and no chemical additives. With oxygen available, the resident bacteria stop drawing it from sulfate, so the hydrogen sulfide that would otherwise form is not formed, the approach described in more detail on our H2S removal page.

At the first station, we dosed continuously in liquid form at both the ten foot lift station and the smaller pit upstream, starting at 20 ppm. Once the odor was gone, the rate was dropped to a 10 ppm maintenance dose.

At the second, both stations were batch dosed once a day, starting at 20 ppm based on the estimated daily volume of sludge and water through the station. Once the shared line was clean, the maintenance schedule dropped to three batches a week at 2 to 5 ppm each.

At the third, we dosed continuously at 10 ppm from the start, and the program was later expanded to cover six lift stations in that district.

How it was measured

None of the three sites had an H2S monitor or lab reading in the source document. The evidence at all three is complaint based: the document records when the businesses, the church and the restaurant patrons who had been complaining stopped, and how long each dose held before it was raised or lowered, in relative terms such as days or years rather than calendar dates. The document does not name who observed the results or record what year the work took place, and there is no untreated control station at any of the three sites.

Results

Site	Region	Dose	Outcome
Ten foot lift station and upstream pit	Small city west of Houston	20 ppm continuous, later reduced to 10 ppm	Odor gone within a day, confirmed by the businesses and church that had complained; no return of odor for three years, until the city replaced the station; station walls cleaner, with far less sludge caked at the waterline; belt changes on the surface motor’s pump drive cut by at least 90 percent
Small station feeding a larger station	University town	20 ppm once daily batch, later reduced to 2 to 5 ppm three times a week	Grease balls flushed out of the shared eight inch line within three days; odors eliminated; no further complaints reported
Boardwalk lift station	Bayside restaurant district	10 ppm continuous	Odor gone within hours; no more complaints from restaurant operators; program expanded to six lift stations

Limitations

This is complaint based evidence from three sites in one field paper, not an instrument record. None of the three sites reports an H2S reading in ppm, so this case study cannot say what the gas concentration was before or after dosing, only that the complaints stopped. The document gives no dates for any of the three sites beyond the three year duration at the first station, so the season, weather and any other changes at each station during the periods described are not known. Flow, service population and pump configuration are not given for any site. There is no untreated control run alongside any of the three stations, and the document does not name who recorded the results. The extrapolation on electricity savings from reduced belt wear at the first station is the document’s own estimate, not a metered reading. For a future customer, a result like this is a goal we measure, not a promise.

Proof assets

The field paper, “Odor Treatments in Lift Stations,” describing all three sites and the dosing history at each.
We are confirming written customer permission before naming any of the three stations or their operators on this page.

Contact us. We will show you the program.

A few details are enough to start: your system, roughly how much flow it sees, and the problem you want gone. Estimates are welcome; we ask for the rest on the call.

Your name *Email *OrganizationPhone (optional)Your system *Location *Main problem *Flow, gallons per day (an estimate is fine)Tell us more (optional)System details (optional)Timing (optional)

By sending this you agree to be contacted about your inquiry. See our privacy notice. We reply within one business day. No agreement or charge is created by this form.