YORKSHIRE Water has apologised for a stink created this summer by its sewage works in a York suburb.

The company said it was currently dealing with a ‘number of operational issues’ at the waste water treatment works in Rawcliffe, near the Park & Ride site, and was developing an action plan to tackle the problem.

It was responding to complaints by Derek Paterson, from the Shipton Road area, who told The Press he had been upset by the ‘frequently smelly gaseous emissions’ this summer.

He said: “I am aware from speaking to other residents that there has been little progress with sorting out the problem.

York Press:

“A variety of different reasons seem to be being given when others contact Yorkshire Water such as: “a broken belt/ Bradford HQ do not have the money to repair it/ septic tank deliveries being added to the tanks at night / emptied main sewage tanks need to be cleaned out by hand / oxygen is now added to help bacterial breakdown...et al.”

He said there had been meetings with Yorkshire Water but there had been a lack of response on an issue which was having a direct impact on residents and on tourists.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman ‘sincerely apologised’ to customers affected by the odours, which were caused by operational issues on site which it was working hard to resolve.

“We have developed an action plan to recover the situation on site which should help improve the odour situation shortly,” he said.

“We are also developing longer term plans for the site to help reduce the risk of problems in the future.

“We are treating repairs to the equipment on site as a priority and we will be dosing further chemicals in the pumping stations that feed into the treatment works to help prevent any odours building up in the sewers before the waste water reaches the site.”

He said the company had also begun dosing additional chemicals on site to help reduce the odours, but the impact might take a short while to be noticed by customers whilst the chemicals took effect.

He added that customers would be updated as the action plan was implemented.