Ōpōtiki residents have been informed of the cause of an unpleasant smell plaguing the town — the local wastewater treatment plant.
In a post to its Facebook page, Ōpōtiki District Council said it had been trying to get to the bottom of the smell issue around town.
"It appears that things are a bit out of whack at the wastewater treatment ponds," the post stated.
"Our treatment processes rely on bacteria breaking down and digesting the wastewater (poo!) and cleaning it before it is distributed over the disposal field."
The current wind direction was making the smell worse, the council said, with northwesterly winds blowing the sewage smell towards Ōpōtiki, 2.1km to the southeast.
"(Without sounding like a yogurt commercial) it seems maybe our 'good' bacteria are currently outweighed by the 'bad' bacteria, hence the smell. Made worse by the current wind direction.
"We'll continue to try and get to the cause of the issue with our engineering team and the experts at the regional council and keep you updated."
Several people were quick to post comments, blaming others for contributing to the problem.
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