A Christchurch resident has made a tearful plea to city councillors to address the “toxic stench” coming from the Bromley Wastewater treatment plant.

Two trickling filters at the plant were destroyed by a large fire in November, resulting in strong and unpleasant smells.

Bromley resident Vickie Walker said the smell was unbearable.

“There are so many on this side of town suffering and miserable with the smell.”

“I work hard. I can’t nurture myself or go for a walk after work, or go into my garden, or open my house, my home, my community. I can’t breathe fresh air. I can’t bring friends over because I don’t know if the toxic stench will be there and it’s very embarrassing.”

Walker said “to escape, I’m lucky, I have a car and can travel and go for a walk on Sumner Beach. My neighbour is not so lucky. She is disabled and rides a mobility scooter. She is trapped like so many are. I try to comfort her the best I can, but it’s not easy and there are many people on the east side of Christchurch, we feel miserable.”

“I feel like the toxic smell permeates every cell in my body and I try to use other smells to neutralise it, but it doesn’t work. I end up gagging.”

Walker said sleeping was a problem too. “It often makes me feel like vomiting and I can’t get back to sleep.”

Council’s Head of Three Waters, Helen Beaumont said the odour is largely due to hydrogen sulphide.

“It’s got that typical rotten egg smell, which indeed is foul and familiar to anybody who lives near a poorly functioning treatment plant and familiar, of course, to people who live in Rotorua.”

Although the smell was bad, it was not considered toxic.

Beaumont said eight new aerators have been turned on at the fire-damaged plant as part of a mid-term recovery plan to address one of the two sources of the unpleasant odours.

“The Council has converted two of the plant’s clarifier tanks into aeration basins in an effort to improve the quality of the effluent being pumped into the oxidation ponds”

“Independent expert advice received is that these measures will gradually improve the odours coming from the oxidation ponds over the coming weeks.”

The quality of the effluent being pumped into the ponds should improve, leading to a gradual improvement in the biological health of the ponds.

“At the same time, planning work is underway to address the less frequent – but more acute – unpleasant smells that are coming from the 26,000m3 of filter material inside the destroyed tricking filters.”

“When it rains and the filter media gets wet, the organic matter trapped within the filter media begins to rot and it releases high levels of unpleasant odours until it dries”

“Our focus is to remove the filter media as soon as possible to eliminate the odour source. Following damage investigations and discussions with our insurer, we will look to appoint a contractor for this work this month.”

“The actual start date of media removal, and the time required to complete the work, will be determined after we appoint a contractor and their methodology has been confirmed.”