That volume could only have come from one of the wet industries and he was unhappy the industry involved had not forewarned the council. That was being investigated and he would not rule legal action.
"The point is, the wet industries are obliged to tell us when this sort of thing is going to happen. Those industries supply 75 per cent of all the waste going into our treatment system and that's why they pay the greatest amount in levies.
"But when something like this happens, it has a detrimental affect and penalises everyone across the city," Mr Stevens said.
The industries were key partners in terms of the plant's effective operation and it was imperative they talked to the council.
"If they'd told us first, then we could have looked at some way of properly controlling this influx, perhaps by retaining some of it so not everything went into the system all at once."
Meanwhile, one Wanganui airport industry user said his company had been on at the council for two years to get the problem fixed, but nothing had happened. Ravensdown Aerowork operations manager Rick Harding said the company had considered legal action and had spoken to its lawyer, "but we haven't pulled that one out yet".
Mr Harding said the smell had been bad around the airport area for years but last Saturday was the worst: "If you'd been out here on Saturday you would have vomited, that's how bad the stench was."
He said now the smell had drifted over other parts of the city and the complaints had got stronger, the council was reacting.
The company had Chinese guests in the city last weekend to look at aircraft.
"They told us they could smell it even before they landed. It's become an embarrassment."
Mr Stevens said when the plant's problems worsened this year, the council met airport users and industries. "We explained to them what had happened and what we were doing to alleviate things, and we'll be updating them again within the coming days."
