Manly Beach: Scientists from around the world working to eliminate odours from North Head Sewage Treatment Plant

Sydney : It has been described as a pong so diabolical it has old ladies keeling over in the streets around one of Sydney’s major tourist attractions.
The eye-watering odours wafting out of the Sydney Water North Head Sewage Treatment Plant and the trucks that cart off the excess solid bits (treated poo) through the seaside suburb of Manly have for years plagued residents, businesses and stunned unwitting tourists.
“It is so bad on some days, ” said Dr Geoff Lambert from the North Head Sanctuary Foundation (NHSF), “it makes you want to vomit.”
Dr Lambert said when the trucks carrying treated poo leave the plant and travel through the streets, the smell literally has people wilting in its wake.
The NHSF secretary Kathy Ridge said there have been days when the stench is so bad she has had to leave the office, and an employee from another nearby group has quit her job.But now scientists across the world have been called in to work on solutions that they hope will fix the stink once and for all.Sydney Water, the owner of the sewage treatment plant, has engaged scientists from the French company Suez Environnement and they are busy testing the waste water in their research and development facility in Paris looking for ways to reduce and eliminate the stench.