Four People Taken Ill At Nashville Field Office But Problem Quickly Solved

     From a television station in Nashville:

Four people have been treated after feeling ill by a reported odor at a social security administration office in Nashville, the Nashville Fire Department (NFD) says.Crews were first dispatched to the social security office on Cumberland Bend around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, when someone smelled the odor and called NFD.

The cause of the odor was determined to be hydrogen sulfide, also called sewer gas, the source of which was a dry plumbing trap. ...

     What's a plumbing trap? You have drains in bathrooms in office buildings. These drains are connected to sewer systems which are full of sewer gas which is nasty stuff. The gas is kept out of the building by a P trap or something like a P trap that depends upon some water caught in the trap to keep the gas out. Let the water evaporate and the gas gets in the building. Run some water into the trap and the problem is solved. Cleaning crews are supposed to take care of this but sometimes forget.