No oxidation pond sweetener for entourage

Watercare Services denies rumours that it will try to make the Mangere sewage works smell sweeter during Apec.

Spokesman Owen Cook said: "We are not putting Chanel No 5 across the ponds for the benefit of Apec leaders' spouses."

The leaders' husbands and wives will travel between the Manukau Harbour oxidation ponds when they visit Puketutu Island on Monday, September 13, for a conservation seminar.

Mr Cook said no odours were coming from the ponds, and even if there were, they would not be smelled from the island. He said Watercare had been asked to wash Island Rd of construction debris and ensure there were no trucks about when the entourage passed.

Apec Taskforce spokeswoman Jocelyn Prasad said a hand-reared kiwi would be brought to the island for the spouses to see during the two-hour morning visit. Sir Peter Blake would speak about his work as head of the Cousteau Society.