Smell had worsened; Lower Hutt Seaview wastewater treatment plant adds second deodoriser

By RNZ

Seaview residents and business owners say the stench is still unbearable from the local wastewater treatment plant.

They have been battling with the smell for years, however, what one resident described as the smell of “hydrogen sulphide and faeces” has only become worse in recent months.

Ranjini Singh from Electrotech said her commercial building had installed its own air fresheners, at the cost of a couple of hundred dollars.

She felt embarrassed when customers visited her business because of the smell outside.

Singh said she complained to the council twice in recent months, and nothing had changed.

Hutt City councillor Brady Dyer told RNZ’s Midday Report the Seaview wastewater treatment plant’s odour issues were part of a wider lack of investment in treatment plants.

“I’m confident we’re doing everything we can. It’s just been an unfortunate string of failures at the plant.”

Last year the plant’s biofilters failed, and the recent issues were caused by a sludge dryer catching fire, Dyer said.

Recently, a second deodoriser was installed to try to control the stench.

“The deodoriser makes it slightly more pleasant, but it’s still not not a pleasant smell,” Dyer said.

Although they were not an ideal solution, they would have to do while the council upgraded the plant, he said.

“The deodoriser is kind of the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.”

Wellington Water has apologised for the odour, and said it was doing all it could to stabilise the plant after the dryer outages.

The sludge dryer is now working in the backlog of sludge is producing, it said.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.