Some residents in Camillus are pinching their noses. They're not happy about a fowl odor they think is coming from dredging taking place on Onondaga Lake. Our Iris St. Meran tells us what the DEC is doing to help residents breathe easier.

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CAMILLUS, N.Y. -- From the looks of it, all is well in this Camillus neighborhood. But the concern some neighbors have is in the air.

Camillus resident Lynore De La Rosa said, "On several occasions, my family and I have been outside and neighbors of ours, we've all smelled like a moth ball type smell. Some evenings is stronger than others."

She is not alone. The Department of Environmental Conservation says over the last three weeks, it's received dozens of calls. The culprit is dredging work being done on Onondaga Lake.

DEC Regional Director Ken Lynch said, "The odor appears to be the disposal site on the waste bed location in the Town of Camillus. There are several potential areas on that site that could be causing the odor."

Lynch says there's an intense monitoring plan and there's no indication of any health concerns related to the odors. Dredging began at the end of July as a 24 hour process, six days a week. It's not unusual for there to be some type of odor from a cleanup project like this, but the complaints have been concentrated from this particular neighborhood more recently.

"There's a lot of factors involved,” Lynch added. “Odors are very difficult to pinpoint and exactly defined because it is somewhat subjective on how odors impact different people. Nevertheless, we take all the odor complaints seriously."

To mitigate the smell, the DEC says Honeywell has already done a number of things including covering areas of standing water and implementing a mister system.

As of September 20th, dredging was suspended to do more to eliminate the smell at the disposal site. It will be determined at a later date when that work will resume.

There is a number you can call if you smell an odor you believe is from the dredging. It is (315) 313-8068.