'Seaview stench' concern returns to Lower Hutt after wastewater error

The "Seaview stench" could stage an unwelcome sequel over the Hutt following an operational maintenance error at a wastewater treatment plant.

Wellington Water said the mistake occurred during work at the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant undertaken by its contractor, Veolia.

While the error had been fixed, the community is being warned to the "strong possibility of increased odour", Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty said.

"The mistake has been corrected, however the biological process at the plant has become unbalanced," he said.

"The biological process treats wastewater and, when it is healthy and balanced, the risk of related odour is very low. However, when it is unbalanced, it can cause higher levels of odour."

Wellington Water said workers will begin removing wet sludge from the plant "as soon as possible" to manage the risk.

"By removing the wet sludge from the plant, we give the biological process the best possible chance of becoming stable again. However, it’s important that the local community are aware and they should expect increased odour from both the sludge trucking and the plant.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and making sure Veolia is taking all possible action to reduce the impact on the community."

Dougherty said the company "deeply regrets any impact felt by the community and wholeheartedly apologises".

"This is completely unacceptable. We acknowledge that it was around the same time last year that we had issues with odour from the plant and we are gutted that this has happened yet again at the start of summer."

Dougherty added that the company "are holding Veolia firmly to account".

"While we are focused on reducing the impact and duration of any odour, we are also committed to ensuring this doesn’t happen again. We have asked Veolia to provide a robust plan so we can give our community confidence moving forward.

"We will continue to keep the community informed and will issue further communications once we know the likely extent of the impact to the biological process, and timeframe of the odour impact."