More than 2000 reports of stench from Christchurch's wastewater treatment plant

Photo: The Canterbury Regional Council has received more than 2000 reports about a putrid stench from Christchurch's wastewater treatment plant since the start of the year. Offensive odours have plagued the city's eastern suburbs following a fire at the Bromley plant in 2021, with the Christchurch City Council describing conditions at the oxidation ponds as the worst since then. The stench left people battling nausea, worsening asthma, sleepless nights and deteriorating mental health. A city council-organised community meeting was being held in Bromley on Tuesday night to give people an update on efforts to fix the problem and what to expect over the coming weeks. Canterbury Regional Council acting director of operations Judith Earl-Goulet said it was considering what, if any, enforcement action against the city council might be appropriate and in the public interest. The regional council had received 2,344 reports about unpleasant smells from Christchurch's eastern suburbs since the start of this year, including 1,814 reports last week alone. "Reports as far out as Wigram indicate to us that the smell is widespread and being felt across much of Ōtautahi Christchurch," she said. "Our team has been talking face-to-face with people in the area and we know the impact of the offensive smell is significant, with the extended length of ongoing smell particularly challenging. "We've let Christchurch City Council know that they are non-compliant with their discharge to air consent condition on the basis that the smell from the plant has been identified beyond the plant boundary. Our investigation into the wider issue is ongoing." Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Woolston local and community advocate Rebecca Robin said the stench was still vile. "It smells like you've buried your face into a bag of trash with dirty nappies and chemicals. I can't even express how horrific it smells. You definitely want to cover your nose and mouth," she said. "Now I do worry if I go to another side of town, I will smell like the treatment plant, my throat has been burning, my children have had headaches. I'm a singer by trade and I haven't been comfortable enough to warm up my vocals because when I breathe in, I'm breathing in toxic air." Robin said she wanted to see the city council better support locals and urgently deal with the problem. She said residents felt let down. "I'd like to see the council showing us they're going to prioritise it. I'm hoping they're not going to dismiss this as a mental health issue, it's environmental impact on people," she said. "I feel like our local elected members have been fighting and the other people around the table aren't supporting them as much as they could be." Bromley resident Carol Anderson said she had been suffering from headaches and nausea because of the smell. "It's just very hard to live with. The other day, I actually got up at about 3am and thought what is that smell? I thought something was on fire. I closed all the windows and doors and didn't get a wink of sleep from that point on," she said. "I just think [the council] have dragged the chain for too long on the whole thing to actually be moving forward in a way that's going to get the problem solved." Linwood Ward councillor Yani Johanson said people were angry and suffering in his community. "There have not been any additional resources I can see being allocated over and above a business as usual approach to deal with the significant increase in harm that's been caused from the stench. I've been pushing since the start of the year for additional resources to go to help people around that health and well-being," he said. "The current information around contacting health practitioners and GPs there's a cost involved, there's access barriers." Johanson said he was calling for several things as a priority. "Set up an incident management team that includes a holistic approach across council, ECan, Health NZ and central government, coordinate with Health NZ over free and immediate access to local GPs, establish a health register and door-to-door welfare checks for the most impacted residents and vulnerable residents," he said. Work had started on a new $140 million sludge plant, with construction expected to take about three years. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon The November 2021 fire badly damaged the plant's two trickling filters, affecting the quality of effluent flowing into the system. The city council said the plant's oxidation ponds were usually healthy at this time of year but several compounding factors had contributed to the stench, including "increased loading" to the ponds and recent heavy rain. "We expected the high levels of rain in January to help flush wastewater through the system and improve pond health - however, this didn't happen, as it appears to have set back the algae growth in the ponds," the council said. "We've always known we're operating the temporary plant with a narrow margin...

More than 2000 reports of stench from Christchurch's wastewater treatment plant

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More than 2000 reports of stench from Christchurch's wastewater treatment plant

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