Following an environmental assessment by the Ministry of the Environment, the City of Cambridge said a weekend odour was created by a non-toxic substance.
“There was no threat to public safety,” the city said in a tweet on Tuesday.
The environmental assessment came after the city received reports of “a strong odour being detected in the west Cambridge area” on Saturday.
Residents in Cambridge described the smell in varying capacities, with some telling CTV News the smell emulated manure. Others said the smell was closer to a natural gas leak.
“I could smell it in my bedroom,” one resident told CTV News. “I smelt it right away, and it smelled like gas to me. It smelt like a gas leak to me.”
At the time, the city said: “It’s believed to be caused by a cleaning procedure at one of the area businesses. Staff are looking into the situation and more information will be shared as soon as it's available.”
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the City of Cambridge told CTV News in an email the odour originated from a company outside of the city, but because of the winds on Saturday, the odor drifted towards the west end of Cambridge.
"The company was doing a "startup" procedure at the time. During the "startup" process a small non-toxic leak occurred and was contained within feet of leak. The company took corrective actions including a "burn off" process using a flare for several hours which creating an odour," said Allison Jones, supervisor of communications with the City of Cambridge. "Ministry of Environment attended the site and determined that nothing other than off-gas breached the property line and there was no threat to public safety. Due to privacy concerns, we will not be able to share the name of the business."
