Let’s not gloss over the ugly. A polluted river? Oh, you’ll know. It’s a chemical cologne of despair. It smells like a mechanic’s shop after a flood. Gasoline, sewage, dish soap, and rotten eggs from the algae bloom of doom. You don’t sniff that one. You run.
And rivers after a flood? That’s a whole new beast. You smell churned-up soil, tree sap, and the belly of the earth. It’s so thick you can almost taste it. It’s the smell of a giant stirring in its sleep.
