Source: Radio New Zealand
Diggers working at the burnt-out Bromley wastewater treatment plant. Christchurch City Council supplied pictures and video of work to remove rot from inside its filters on 10 June 2022. Christchurch City Council
Bromley community leader Jackie Simons has made an emotional plea for more help to be provided to those affected by the foul stench pouring from a sewage plant.
Simons, who sits on the Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood Community Board, made the plea at a Christchurch City Council meeting on Wednesday morning.
It comes after some residents walked out of a fiery council-led public meeting on Tuesday night in frustration over the fire-damaged plant.
Offensive odours have plagued the city’s eastern suburbs after a fire damaged key infrastructure at the Bromley Wastewater Plant in 2021.
Bromley Wastewater Plant.
Complaints about the odour have spiked recently.
Simons told councillors the situation facing locals had now reached crisis point.
“The wastewater plant still stinks. It’s always stunk. It’s been stinking for the last four years,” she said.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve seen an influx of horrendous smell across the whole city. A crisis has come and everyone is in crisis mode.”
The Canterbury Regional Council had received more than 2000 reports about the plant in this year alone.
One Bromley resident told Morning Report the stench from the city’s sewage plant was so bad it had left her coughing up blood.
The city council said the recent heavy rain had affected the health of the oxidation pond and it was using all available tools to improve water quality.
An emotional and frustrated Simons told elected members she was regularly fielding complaints from the community.
There was a perception the council would have acted sooner if it was happening to more upmarket parts of the city, she said.
“When they come to me and they say ‘if this was happening in Fendalton you would’ve fixed it by now’, ‘the council doesn’t care about us in the east’, ‘they don’t give a toss’, ‘they’re not listening’, ‘when are they going to fix it?’ How am I supposed to tell them that you do care when it took the rest of the city to smell it to stand up and show that you cared.”
The council needed to provide more on-the-ground support for those worst affected, Simons said.
“I’d like to see those people asked ‘what do you need?’. Because a gift basket is no good to someone who needs a lift to the doctor. A supermarket voucher is no good to someone who can’t pay for a prescription,” she said.
“They can’t open their windows, they can’t hang their washing out, they have physical symptoms of ill-health, they have respiratory issues, they have depression, they have mental health challenges because of this situation. They are in crisis every day.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
