DOZENS of people have signed an open letter to the CEO of Southern Water after years of misery cause by a foul smell.

Residents in the St Denys area of Southampton have been left "sickened" by a smell of "human faeces" caused by the Southern Water sewage works.

Those living around the Kent Road area are unable to open their windows or sit in their gardens due to the pungent smell produced by the Portswood Wastewater Treatment Works.

Local man Jan Krumins has now written an open letter to the Southern Water CEO Lawrence Gosden, which has been signed by 180 disgruntled residents.

Mr Krumins, who has lived on Priory Road for 30 years, described the smell as "revolting".

He said: "Imagine you're in your garden and you have guests, then you get that smell wafting in.

"People ring up Southern Water and they tell us that no one has complained.

"I wrote the letter and asked the local Facebook groups if anyone would like to sign the letter.

"Within 24 hours there were 180 people had asked to sign it.

"I just wanted to write a letter that everyone could be a part of."

In the letter, Jan says that many people believe Southern Water is "cutting corners" and asks questions about how often the tanks are switched and what bacteria is used to process the waste.

Cllr John Savage is urging residents to report the bad smells to the council.

"180 people have signed the letter to Southern Water," he said.

"But we have only had 12 reports directly to the council.

"Residents must report nuisance smells to the council."

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: “We are aware of recent reports of an unpleasant smell in the area around Portswood Wastewater Treatment works in Southampton.

"We would like to apologise for any impact on the local community.

“A failure of extraction fans caused by an electrical fault has now been fixed. This should lead to a quick improvement.

“In 2018, we completed a £5.5m investment on this site to tackle potential impact on the local environment, including odours, and we monitor performance closely.

"We would urge residents to report any issues to us by calling on 0330 303 0368.”

The full letter sent to Southern Water

Dear Mr Gosden,

We are writing this open letter to you to request immediate and effective action concerning the smell and air quality problems caused by the Portswood Wastewater Treatment Centre in Southampton.

The signatories to this letter are but a small proportion of the many residents in the St Denys, Portswood and Bitterne Park districts who are discussing this issue across social media on a daily basis. Their anger is growing every day.

Copies of this letter have also been sent to the local MP, the three Southampton City councillors for the Portswood/St Denys ward and the local newspaper.

In 2020 Southern Water completed an upgrade to the Portswood treatment centre and proudly announced that these modernisations would make a massive improvement. And indeed for a period there were noticeably fewer days when an odour could be detected and at much lower levels.

However, in the years since then, the frequency and intensity of smell emanating from the centre has increased. It is now at a level where it is an unbearable blight on the lives of several thousand residents. All these households are customers of Southern Water and pay bills on the expectation of decent levels of service.

On too many days you can go outside and think that the air is fine and then, quite quickly, a revolting smell will roll across the neighbourhood and stay for hours or days. This is of course extremely unpleasant for adults and children. It is also likely to pose a health hazard to those with any respiratory conditions.

The smell is so strong that many people cannot open their windows because the odours penetrate inside the home. They have been unable to sleep properly in the current hot weather as a result.

You must ask yourself whether you would want you or your family to endure this quality of life?

Many people have of course already complained, either directly to Southern Water or to Southampton City Council’s Environmental Health department. Southern Water’s responses thus far have been varied but in general have tried to downplay the seriousness of the problem. Indeed, one resident was told by your Customer Care team that they would just have to put up with it.

Our suspicions are that Southern Water are trying to cut corners. Are the tanks being switched frequently enough? Is the bacteria used for processing being replenished quickly enough?

If these are not causes of the issue, then should coverings be fitted to the tanks, as we understand was done at the Woolston facility?

While we do not have the knowledge to fully comment on technical aspects of the problem, we do demand that a permanent solution be achieved rapidly. It is not acceptable in 2023 that an environmental issue of this magnitude can be dismissed as an occasional inconvenience.

By the way, although the current hot weather exacerbates people’s misery, you should note that in February and March there were a swathe of incidents. Hot weather is not the prime cause and, in any case, should be anticipated during summer.

We understand Councillor Savage is to meet with a technical team from Southern Water quite soon. We would appreciate it if you could empower them to commit to a full and proper solution for this issue.

To note, in the communities’ social media platforms there is growing unrest. There are promptings to start a series of protests at Southern Water’s facilities to gain national press and TV attention. Also some people have suggested that customers cancel their direct debits so that they can make payments where a small amount is withheld as a protest to Southern Water.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We keenly await your response.