Public health chiefs in Canterbury acknowledge that people suffering from the Bromley stench are going through hell, but beware that a health register may not be the best way to monitor its impact. People experiencing nausea, headaches and disturbed sleep are increasingly concerned about prolonged exposure to the sulfur gases coming from a fire-damaged wastewater treatment plant in the suburbs.
But Cheryl Brunton, Canterbury’s medical officer, said although there was evidence that people were suffering from the foul odor physically and mentally, long-term problems were “extremely unlikely” at current hydrogen sulphide concentrations.
Brunton’s District Health Council colleague, dr. Lucy D’Aeth, told a city council committee it’s clear people are struggling.
“For the people who have an acutely sensitive sense of smell, it’s hell, we admit it,” she said.
The council asked the DHB to consider setting up a health register in response to community concerns over the months-long stench coming from the plant’s two burnt-out drip filters and overloaded oxidation dams.
Brunton said the council’s finance and performance committee to register would be difficult to set up and maintain and would not address the issue directly.
“People who suffer from the effects of the smell are actually very eager and anxious that it should be recognized. A health registry does not actually address people’s health needs,” she said.
“A registry is actually quite a difficult and cumbersome way to ensure that people have access to care.”
The symptoms most commonly reported to general practitioners were nausea, headache, eye, throat and skin irritation, worsening asthma and disturbed sleep, Dr Brunton said.
“All of this is very much in line with exposure especially to hydrogen sulphide at the types of concentrations measured in the council’s monitoring,” she said.
She said patients also reported feelings of significant distress, frustration and powerlessness.
Although it was unlikely that the health effects would continue in the long term at the concentrations measured so far, Dr Brunton said some people would remain particularly sensitive to odors.
“They may experience some of these health effects in the future at very low concentrations,” she said.
“For those people, it may be good that while the health effects are improving, they are not completely resolved.”
Wastewater plant staff are still working on a system to do the work of the two drip filters, but expect to have it completed by next week.
Helen Beaumont, council chief of three waters, said it could take at least six weeks before the smell of the oxidation dams improves.
“We have to wait three weeks for the biomass to settle and then it will still take, at least three weeks and maybe a little longer, for the water to flush through those six dams,” she said.
“It takes a month or so for the water to go through completely.”
Beaumont said wastewater dumped into the sea does not meet environmental standards, but tests have shown that it does not affect the water quality at the beach.
– By Jean Edwards