RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. --  

Ravenswood officials can do little to tone down an overwhelming stench coming from the city's wastewater system, a consultant said.

A rapid rise in temperatures earlier this month caused solid materials in the sewage lagoon system to rise to the top, said Mark Mercer, the city's sewer consultant.

Once the materials are exposed to air, they undergo a process called denitrification and gas bubbles explode in the air.

The lagoon system is along W.Va. 68 not far from downtown businesses, City Hall and a riverfront park.

"I can imagine that would not be a place right now where you want to sit and have a picnic lunch," Mercer said.

The smell wouldn't be as noticeable had temperatures increased gradually. Temperatures in the Charleston region are about 7 degrees above normal this month, according to the National Weather Service.

"Unfortunately for Ravenswood, this spring it got pretty hot pretty fast," Mercer said.

Mayor Lucy Harbert said the lagoon system has been a part of the city as long as she can remember and she doesn't recall a smell from it ever being this bad.

"Once in a great while you might have an odor for half a day or something, and then it goes away," she said. "This came up three weeks ago, and it is bad. The odor is the worst."

"I said, 'Can we just go get some Febreze and sprinkle it over the whole thing or something?' I really thought maybe we can put something in there to make it smell better."

She said she was told that would put the system out of compliance with environmental regulations.

Mercer said the best thing to do is wait until the stench goes away. He said that could take up to six weeks.

A public meeting on the stench is scheduled for Thursday.