Public may smell a sulfuric odor today

MLGW is performing routine maintenance at its Germantown Gate station on the west side of Germantown Parkway just south of Rockcreek Parkway involving Mercaptan beginning around 9 a.m. and lasting until approximately 3 p.m. 

Mercaptan is the same chemical odorant that MLGW adds to natural gas to give it the rotten egg/sulfur smell so it can be easily detected. Mercaptan by itself is a harmless, pungent-smelling gas but it is not natural gas. 

Depending on the wind/weather conditions, residents and businesses in various areas could smell this strong, sulfuric odor.

MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 426,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.