Mystery bad smell wafts through Ōpōtiki

A smell described as like rotting fish or a dead animal has been haunting Ōpōtiki over the past two months and Bay of Plenty Regional Council is investigating.

The regional council says it has identified one source of odour complaints but is not revealing what it is until it has completed its investigations.

Compliance team leader Trudy Richards said the regional council had received seven odour complaints to its Pollution Hotline for the Ōpōtiki area since December 18.

However, community Facebook administrator Maude Maxwell says she has heard from closer to 60-to-80 people complaining about the smell, through Facebook comments, private messages or phone calls.

"It’s important that people don’t just complain about these things on Facebook but report them to the relevant authorities," Maxwell said.

She has posted details of how to do this on the community page.

"But not all of our whānau are on social media," she said.

She said many of the complaints seemed to be generated from the southern end of town, past the cemetery, though there were also reported issues around the Princess Street and wharf area to the north of town.

The smell was worse at certain times of day and when the weather was hot.

She had collated these comments into a letter to Mayor David Moore and Ōpōtiki District Council chief executive Stace Lewer.

She said Moore had been very helpful.

Moore told Local Democracy Reporting the issue with the odours had been "horrendous".

"I have voiced concerns over the community (Facebook) page and shared with them the Pollution Hotline number."

He said Lewer and his team had investigated from the council side whether there was anything they were doing that could be causing it, and it was not the town’s resource recovery centre or sewerage system, or White Island, as some had suggested.

"I feel for the people living in town."

He said he had been in town on Sunday, and it had been very evident the smell was still a problem.

Richards said reports were intermittent and spread over different times, locations and wind conditions, suggesting multiple sources, rather than a single cause.

The compliance team made several visits to the area to follow up complaints during December and January.

"So far, we have confirmed one odour source, but investigations are ongoing."

She said the one confirmed source had since been rectified and no further odour issues were anticipated.

The regional council would not reveal the source of the odour it had identified at this stage, but confirmed there had been no associated discharge to land or water.

"It was an odour from a contained substance," Richards said.

"We’re still in the early stages of our investigation, and while one of the sources has been identified, it wouldn’t be appropriate to name it at this point.

"Given that the investigation is ongoing, identifying the source now could place unfair blame before all the facts are established. We want to ensure a fair and thorough process before making any determinations."

No decision has been made yet regarding enforcement action.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.