Christchurch residents again have reported an unpleasant smell drifting across the city on Saturday.

The Council’s live monitoring website confirmed oxidation ponds at the wastewater treatment plant were producing noticeable odour.

A Woolston resident told chrislynchmedia.com, “It’s just unbelievable that the council still can’t sort this smell out. It’s overpowering and it feels like we’re expected to just live with it. How many more years are residents supposed to put up with this?”

A resident in Wainoni said “we’ve put up with this burning rotten egg smell on and off since the fire, but today it’s the worst I’ve smelt it in ages.

Feels like the whole eastern side of town is being slowly poisoned. My washing on the line now smells like burnt shit.”

In its latest update released on, the council said “Over the past month or so, we’ve experienced significant challenges with the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant’s oxidation ponds, unexpectedly, conditions were the worst they’ve been since the fire.”

It said weather shifts played a major role in how odour levels changed, with rainfall followed by settled conditions increasing the likelihood of smell from some ponds.

A specialist has also been brought on site to help develop a new pond management plan aimed at identifying early warning indicators such as algae levels and dissolved oxygen so staff can respond sooner.

The council said the plan would set clearer trigger points for intervention and strengthen existing monitoring work.