People set about investigating where the terrible smell was coming from and have a strong theory
Gary Woollam, a resident of Garston(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Residents of a part of Liverpool have complained about their area ‘stinking of rotting eggs’ and they think they have worked out the reason why. Locals in Garston said they noticed a really strong smell in the air on Sunday, July 20.
Garston resident Gary Woollam was one of those who noticed the bad smell in Garston. He told the ECHO: “On Sunday evening the smell was so strong. It smelled like eggs throughout Garston.“
He added: “We were babysitting and my wife noticed the smell first and thought it was the ‘gas like.’ We checked the little ones to check that it wasn’t coming from them.
“I noticed on social media people all over south Liverpool were complaining, so we knew we were not alone.”
Another resident contacted the ECHO to state: “From around 9pm the whole of Garston smelled of sulphur or rotten eggs. The National Gas Emergency line received reports from more than 11 postcodes reporting smells of gas which appear to be smells of raw sewage.”
After investigating the situation, one concerned resident shared a number of screenshots of the United Utilities storm overflow map, taken on Monday evening, which highlighted a number of discharges into the River Mersey from the previous 24 hours.
One report shows a discharge came from what is called the Southern Relief Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), which lies close to Otterspool Park, not far from the Garston area.
The report states that the last discharge from this facility stated at 9.11pm on Sunday July 20 and was last discharging at 9.37pm on the same night.
But these weren’t the only reported discharges into the River Mersey around this time. A report shows that in the 24 hours leading up to Monday evening there was a discharge from the Bromborough Waste Water Treatment Works Storm Overflow as well.
And further up the Mersey, there were also recorded discharges from the St Andrews CSO near Crosby. According to the United Utilities website, the discharges from this facility started at 5.48pm on Sunday and continued until 8.10pm.
The ECHO contacted United Utilities who pointed out that there are numerous reasons for odours to occur in areas and the smells reported over the weekend do not necessarily equate to odours. The organisation says it did not receive specific complaints from people in the area bout the smell.
They said that as the reports came to them after the event, it is not possible for them to determine whether the smells were releated to the spills that occurred following heavy rainfall.
A spokesperson said: “Storm overflows are designed to operate during heavy rainfall. Following a period of heavy rain, some overflows did operate for a short duration over the weekend.
“Since 1991 we have invested around £3bn in our treatment works and sewer systems to play our part in improving water quality throughout the river basin. In the next five years we will build on this investment by spending more than £240m across Merseyside to reduce spills from 20 overflows. If people experience persistent odours, we encourage them to contact us so that our teams can investigate.”