No quick fix for burnt Bromley wastewater plant

Halting the pungent odour from Christchurch’s burnt wastewater plant may not be able to happen any faster, but residents may receive some council help in the meantime.

Almost six months after a massive fire damaged the plant’s two trickling filters, city councillors and local residents have been told there is no quick fix.

The council’s head of three waters and waste, Helen Beaumont, told a council meeting the underlying odour was caused by the extra loading on the oxidation ponds, while the less frequent but more severe source was the effect of rainwater on the organic matter in the damaged trickling filters.

Extra aerators are being installed, with some components having to come from overseas, to ease the pond odour.

Removing the material inside was considered the only viable way to stop the odour from the filters and this will take several months. Odours would temporarily increase while this was done, she said. ‘‘If we can do it faster, we will.’’

The council has bypassed the normal tendering process and is appointing a contractor, to be announced next week.

Beaumont said in response to councillors’ questions that while the council had sought advice from the private sector and other local authorities, there was ‘‘not much’’ central government could do to help. ‘‘There’s no Ministry of Works to roll in any more.’’

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the council fully understood the distress of residents in the face of the ‘‘offensive stench’’, and wanted a ‘‘two-way street’’ of communication between residents and the council. ‘‘There isn’t a single person around this table that wouldn’t vote for a quick fix if there was one’’.

Dalziel said that by law, the council was not allowed to spend outside its budget. It

also had to ensure the remedial work was done safely for workers and residents.

Asked by Cr Yani Johanson whether any financial issues were slowing down fixing the problem, Beaumont said there were not.

The council’s insurer accepted its claim three weeks after the fire and is working with the council, councillors were told, but the claim has not yet been settled. The insurer has already approved the cost of removing the filter material.

Other staff outlined how capping the filters would create a build-up of gases, posing a danger to residents and onsite workers, while spraying chemical treatments would risk spreading airborne contaminants while not effectively reaching all the material inside the filters.

New monitoring equipment is about to be installed to monitor air quality around the filters, with the first results due next week, staff said.

Dalziel requested fortnightly updates ‘‘until this matter is resolved’’, and the council voted to ask staff to ‘‘provide advice on ways that support could be provided for affected residents’’. In a deputation to the council before the meeting began, residents said precious time had already been wasted, and the stench was worsening.

Katinka Visser said mobility issues kept her at home, and she was suffering from sore throats, headaches and shortness of breath with the air. ‘‘I can taste it when I’m talking ... it makes sleeping impossible... I miss all my friends, no-one wants to come here any more.’’