Leith residents complain about stench from Edinburgh's Seafield Waste Water Treatment

Leith residents complained of a ‘particularly bad’ smell from the Seafield Water Treatment Works yesterday.

It comes as the Leith Links Community Council warned that the smell has had a worse effect on locals than usual this year due to the coronavirus lockdown.

“Stink on the Links terrible today [...] I shouldn’t have had to come back inside because the smell outside was awful,” wrote one user on Twitter yesterday.

“Is the Seafield stink back today?” another asked, while one added that the plant was ‘a bit ripe today’.

“There was a definite stench coming from Seafield today. I had to close my windows to stop it seeping in,” said Sam Shedden, who lives near Salamander Place.

Leith Links Community Council said the smell is having a higher impact on locals than usual.

“This spring, as every year, Seafield Sewage Treatment Works has exposed local Leithers to a series of appalling odour leaks,” said a spokesperson.

“But this year it feels much worse, because our time out in the open air is so precious. And as we venture out for our walk, jog or cycle, our nose and lungs are regularly assaulted by the appalling sewage stench we’ve come to know only too well.”

The Community Council has set up a portal on its website for people to complain about the smell.

“Obviously in lockdown we can’t go further afield to escape this scourge,” said one complaint reported by the Community Council.

Another read: “It is particularly galling at this time of lockdown when we need to walk in the fresh air for our physical and mental health.”

‘I had to rush home and close all my windows, despite the lovely weather. It’s so depressing,” another added.

Leith Councillor Gordon Munro said yesterday: “Being confined at home during lockdown is bad enough but to have that kind of stench is appalling.

“People can’t even enjoy their garden or their house because of it.

“This has been a long-running problem. We were promised a solution in 2007 but it has not happened. It’s about time after the nearly 20 years that the community has been campaigning about this.

“Recently I’ve had constituents saying they have had to remain indoors and shut all the windows, and even then in some cases they say it hasn’t been enough to keep it out.”

Site operators Veolia are scheduled to conduct planned maintenance works on the site today and tomorrow.

The work will be to clean storm tanks, at the first available opportunity since recent rainfall in the area.

Scottish water said Veolia would make ‘every effort’ to minimise odour during the works.

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “Scottish Water and Veolia apologise for any odour from Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works.

“Planned essential maintenance work will be carried out on Wednesday, which we have already notified stakeholders about.

“We are committed to improving odour management at Seafield and in addition to measures already implemented we are finalising options to invest £10 million to improve sludge storage at the site.”

Scottish Water announced a major upgrade to the plant in January this year.

The £10 million investment is scheduled to begin in 2021.