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Mysterious Odor Plagues Some Bucktown Homes

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Chicago Health Department is looking into a mysterious odor that's coming from somewhere around Bucktown.

It was about a week ago when 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack first noticed the smell in his own home in Bucktown.

"It smells like putting your nose to the sewer and the wind kind of blowing through it," he tells WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller.

Waguespack says the smell went away in his house. But since then, he says a few dozen people have complained about a similar odor. Some say it's like gas or paint thinner.

He says it seems to be centered right around Armitage and side streets north and south in Bucktown.

"The smell, if it's coming from the sewer, could be harmful to some people -- to children who have allergies or any other type of health conditions," he says. "So, we just wanted to touch base with our different departments and see if they could help us walk through it."

Waguespack has asked the health department and the water department to look into it.

He says People's Gas has determined it's not a gas leak.

The Chicago Department of Public Health says it is monitoring the situation.

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