Our road smells of raw sewage and rotting eggs & it’s so bad it makes us GAG… but we don’t know what the problem is
RESIDENTS have told how their road reeks of rotten eggs and leaves dog walkers GAGGING after a mystery sewage smell emerged.
Homeowners at the Kings Barton Estate in Winchester, Hampshire, have described the horrendous stench of “hot rotting sewage” seeping through their community for years.
They claim developer Cala Homes has been told about the smell, but the source is unclear.
Resident Sarah Howard, 30, told the Sun: “It’s quite hard to describe, it’s kind of like a rotten egg type smell.
“I’ve got sensitive gag reflexes so sometimes I think I’m going to physically throw up.”
She said the developer has investigated the stench, but nothing has been resolved.
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The firm claim the drains have been investigated but no blockage was discovered, meaning the stench - which only lasts for “ten seconds” at a time - is not a piping issue.
Locals say the estate is just a few metres from a sewage treatment plant so the smell could be from there.
Others said farmers spread muck on the surrounding fields - leading them to think the smell is manure.
Sarah added: “The estate has tried to fix it but obviously there’s only so many times you can complain about something before wanting to give up.
“They do say that they try, but there’s trying and there’s doing.
“The estate is really friendly, everyone gets on with everyone.
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“It’s just a shame. I’m walking my dog and it’s a lovely day, but then when the smell is bad I’m trying not to throw up while walking.”
Her neighbour Neil Golder, 54, also said he has noted the smell.
“It’s a smell of hot rotting sewage,” he added.
“It’s not horrific, but its something you wouldn’t expect in a brand new development.
“The complaints we’ve had have been ongoing for at least a year since we’ve been here.
“Cala have been investigating and find nothing particularly wrong.
“They say the drains are fine, the drains are clear. What else can we do?
“It’s a difficult one. It smells but god knows where it’s coming from.”
It’s a smell of hot rotting sewage.
Neil Golder
Mum Lisa, 40, said she smells the stench while on scooter rides with her kids, aged four and six.
“When you go out of the house you can smell it. When we go on the scooter with the kids, you get a waft of it.
“It smells like sewage, like a sewage plant when the wind blows in the wrong way.
“Or like a muck spread in the field.
“We just get on with it. It would be nice if it was fixed.”
Mark Sanders, 50, said he has had to get the drains unblocked twice a year for four years at his house in a bid to help the smell.
He said: “We have two sewers and we can’t use them.
“It’s frustrating because we’re spending money. We have to get guys out and it costs money, and I know that because we have to do it every year twice a year.
BIG STINK
Judit Szolnoki, 41, said she has smelt the odour late at night.
She said: “It’s a sewage smell. It was really bad. In front of the house, behind the house.
“And we had it in the bathroom. It’s really bad.
“We were struggling with it. Some of our neighbours were struggling with it more - they [had it] continuously for weeks.”
Cala’s technical director Ian Curry said the firm has been investigating the smell.
Mr Curry said: "The smell is intermittent, it's not a constant.
"We have used CCTV on all the sewers so we know they are clean and running.
"There is no debris down there. We are liaising with Southern Water.
“They have been helpful and we going to approach them again to see if they can help.
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"If the sewers are running clean there is no reason they can smell.
"The intermittent waft is for ten seconds and it disperses. We are struggling to understand what that can be."
