UPDATE PM 2 DEC 2024: The mayor has announced on Facebook the following:
“At last week’s community meeting in Seaview, residents shared that the odour blasters at the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant are making the smell worse and even causing some people to feel unwell.
In response, Wellington Water is trialling a two-week shutdown of the odour neutralisers starting on Wednesday 4 December. This trial comes directly from resident feedback, and we’re keen to see if this makes a difference.
Wellington Water will monitor the impact, but resident input is crucial. Please let them know if you notice any changes – positive or negative – during this trial by completing this quick survey.
If there is a significant negative impact experienced before the trial end date, Wellington Water will shut down the trial earlier than planned.
Thank you to those who made this suggestion, Wellington Water will keep working with you to minimise the impacts on the community.”
A survey has been set up: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5G8XTJ2
2 December 2024
The community have called for the odour blaster at the treatment plant to be shut down claiming that it adds to the stench more.
At the community meeting in November 2024 the CEO of Wellington Water pledge to having a look at a trial.
A community advocate spoke with the mayor later in the week about the issue. The mayor expressed that some members of the community were equally keen to keep it running as doing something might be better than doing nothing.
Members of the community have since spoken with the plant directly and expressed that a trial is being considered however there are processes to work though.
What those processes are exactly who knows, we don’t, however we can speculate, so we will…
There is an obligation ‘to do something’ so the council will have worked through a process to identify the best options.
The equipment has been supplied in good faith, so in good faith those who made that purchase will need to engage with the providers for their take on the situation.
People from the plant and Wellington Water have previously told us that they don’t see the blasters has delivering any value.
Experience in Christchurch with the organics processing plant showed that this type of equipment has little or no impact.
It should be obvious that those supplying the equipment stand behind a view that the equipment can have value, hence it would be incumbent on the council, Wellington Water and the plant contractor to ask why they’re not having an impact.
The odour coming from the plant is likely to be H2S and some other gasses. It’s questionable is a vapor system would impact those emissions. We are currently seeking more advice.
Some in the community have expressed concerns about the deodorizer used and if it might impact the biological process in the plant itself (making the problem worse not better as we already know that getting the plant back to operational health is the current biggest problem).
Some in the community have expressed concerns about breathing in deodorizer and a preference for stench of H2S gas over chemicals.
It would be fair to say that arguing with and diverting from industry best practices is hard and as such there may be some time line before action is seen.