Residents eye legal action over smell from Bromley wastewater treatment plant

A fire broke out at the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bromley in November last year. Photo / Supplied

By Jean Edwards of RNZ

People suffering from the rotten stench from Bromley's wastewater treatment plant ponds might have to wait another three months for the smell to improve, the Christchurch City Council says.

Council staff at a public meeting in South Brighton last night heard from parents whose children were vomiting and crying because of the stink, while others warned of a potential class-action lawsuit.

Mother Samantha Fay said her children were sensitive to smell, so the putrid stench from the ponds had made her seven-year-old son sick to the stomach.

"He will open the door to go outside and vomit," she said.

"He doesn't want to go outside any more, he just stays in the house."

Another mother, who did not want to be named, said her children were distraught when the smell from the treatment plant next door was at its worst.

"I have my kids come to me at 10.30pm at night crying because they can't get to sleep because of the smell," she said.

"They don't go to school because they wake up with constant headaches and nausea. I have a daughter in Year 13 and it's affected her whole year."

Philip Duffey told council staff he was angry about a lack of practical help to deal with the health effects of the stench.

He said it was unreasonable for the council to admit the odour was causing headaches, nausea and disrupted sleep and yet expect people to pay to see a doctor or buy air purifiers.

"It's your cost, it's not ours. You're liable for it. You should dig into your pockets and find it because you have caused this harm that we are experiencing," he said.

"Do we literally have to go and get a lawyer, do we have to start a statement of claim for you to take it seriously, for you to actually put something on the table that's reflective of the damage you've caused?"

Duffey told RNZ people were investigating whether there were grounds for some kind of class action, but it was ridiculous they felt they had to turn to lawyers for help.

"We're just kind of expected to smell poo and accept they're doing things to get rid of it long-term, but nothing to help us now," he said.

Canterbury's medical officer of health has said long-term health effects from exposure to hydrogen sulphide are extremely unlikely at the current concentrations.

Councillors were last week told it could take at least six weeks for the smell from the oxidation ponds to improve but head of Three Waters, Helen Beaumont, said it could now take up to 12 weeks.

She said it would take time for the biological process to work in the new system doing the job of the two fire-damaged trickling filters.

"The cleaner wastewater will take another three-to-six weeks to flush through those ponds. So worst case, 12 weeks, best case, six weeks," she said.

Beaumont said people who were worried about their health should talk to their GP.

"Hydrogen sulphide, while it's extremely unpleasant, it's not like asbestos in terms of doing that long-term damage nor is it like some of those environmental pollutants like lead that accumulate in your body," she said.

"It's something that's awful at the time but once it's gone it has no lasting effects."

The council expects to receive the results of tests to determine the cause of paint stains and discolouration on people's homes next week.

- RNZ