Bad smell lingers in downtown Auckland park: Council blames sulphur in soil

There is an offensive odour emanating from a downtown Auckland park so pungent one passerby said her head hurt and she had been left feeling dizzy. Photo / Michael Craig

A noxious and offensive odour emanating from a downtown Auckland park is so pungent one passerby said her head hurt and she left feeling dizzy.

The woman told the Herald the Victoria and Halsey St entrance to Victoria Park “smells like s*** - I mean poo”.

Two more passersby, a couple of Australian holidaymakers, said it smelt of fertiliser.

“I’ll tell you what, usually my sinuses are so blocked up I can’t smell anything, but it definitely smells bad around here.”

Victoria Park is a popular spot for exercise and sport. Photo / Michael Craig

Another couple walking through the park immediately held their noses when they were struck by the foul aroma.

“It smells like a farm.”

When the Herald visited the park, a short walk from its newsroom, several wafts of a heavy, warm manure smell blew along Victoria St. The smell was isolated to the Victoria and Halsey St entrance, where two piles of a dirty brown substance lay.

Each pile covered an area of about 5sq m.

Auckland Council said the piles were soil, and that may be the source of the stench.

There was a foul stench coming from these piles of dirt in Victoria Park in downtown Auckland on Thursday afternoon. Photo / Raphael Franks

Each pile was about 5cm high and covered an area of about 5sq m. Photo / Raphael Franks

“The smell may be from the soil - which after being regularly compacted by park users and having minimal exposure to air – creates conditions where sulphur production increases,” a spokesman said.

“The smell is expected to dissipate over the next 24/48 hours once air circulates through the soil.”

The council said contractors removed multiple soil cores from the ground to help the turf breathe and improve irrigation as part of regular maintenance at Victoria Park. This soil was used to cover roots and hollows near trees at the park, the council spokesman said.

Bad smells plague neighbourhoods

It’s not the first time foul odours have plagued areas, with $70,000 worth of fines issued after a stench coming from a wastewater treatment plant in Lower Hutt made some residents physically sick and a fire at a wastewater plant in Christchurch left a stink across eastern areas of the city.

The main cause of the odour from Lower Hutt’s Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant in December last year was a project to replace the biofilter. The most odorous air and gases are extracted through a ventilation system and blown through a bed of bark and other organic material, which form the biofilter.

The regional council confirmed 13 incidents of offensive and objectionable odour beyond the boundary of the plant at the time.

There were more than 100 complaints about the smell, prompting GWRC to launch an investigation.

Wellington Water, plant operator Veolia, Hutt City Council, and Upper Hutt City Council have all been subsequently fined due to breaches of consent conditions and abatement notices.

In 2022, the smell coming from the wastewater plant in Bromley, Christchurch was variously described as smelling like burnt faeces, rotten socks, rotten s***, and bad fish. It was a pungent, acrid, overwhelming and nauseating funk, clinging to residents’ clothes.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

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