Residents fed up with odour that 'smells like sewage' at King and Strachan

People who live near the intersection of King Street West and Strachan Avenue describe the smell there a number of ways and not one of them is pleasant.

"It smells like sewage," said Ann Riness, who lives one block to the east in the neighbourhood west of Toronto's downtown core. Riness has lived in the area for 20 years and says the smell surfaced at least a year ago.

"It's definitely tough to live here. You have to keep your windows closed on a bad day," said Riness. "It smells in the house; it smells outside."

She says she has complained a number of times to the City of Toronto, but the issue has yet to be resolved.

Another local compares the smell to rotten eggs and sulphur, while others liberally use the word "poop" to describe the aroma wafting around the intersection.

Jason Tetro, a microbiologist who studied pathogens in sewage at the University of Ottawa, says there's no question about the origin of the stench.

"This is without a doubt sewage that's collecting," said Tetro, who's also the best-selling author of The Germ Code and The Germ Files.

He says the big issue is that sewage creates pathogenic chemicals in the air that could make someone sick.

"In any sense of the word, sewage is one of the most problematic substances when it comes to health," he said.

"It could make you feel sick, it could make you feel nauseated, it could make you have headaches."

Tetro suggests that until the problem is fixed, city workers should be checking the air quality for toxins.

"I really think it behooves the City of Toronto to go there to make sure that the levels are either within acceptable limits or if they're not, to put in some kind of mitigation measures."

The city told CBC Toronto in a written statement that the intersection at King and Strachan sits above the Western Beaches Tunnel, designed to help reduce the discharge of untreated stormwater and combined sewer overflows (CSO) into Lake Ontario.

"The sewers and associated chambers at the corner of King and Strachan are very large trunk sewers that move a large volume of sewage and push out air as they flow," said William Shea, the director of distribution and collection for Toronto Water.

"The air must be released from the system to reduce pressure build-up. As such, these sewers will always have some odour associated with them winter or summer."

Tetro says there is a pumping station under the intersection, which means there is naturally a high accumulation of sewage in the area.

"From what I've been reading, it looks like one or some of the pumps are not working," said Tetro.

Tetro says he's referring to a city document that shows maintenance on the Western Beaches Tunnel (WBT). The city initiated a two-phase project, the first of which was to modify 19 sewer chambers to "improve lake and sewer isolation systems." The second phase called for a "complete pumping station retrofit and modifications to the WBT pumping."

Shea only confirmed to CBC Toronto that the first phase has been completed.

Couple starting to 'second-guess' living in the area

Claire Thomas, who has lived on Strachan Avenue for 15 years, says the problem continues to get worse.

"It infiltrates the house for sure," she said.

Some locals say the smell has them wondering about staying in the area.

"We're renting, but we want to buy in the neighbourhood," said Chris Hughes, who lives with his partner Lauren Smith a couple of blocks away. However, he says they are now questioning that choice.

"We're starting to second guess whether we actually want to continue to live here."

CBC Toronto reached out to all 12 candidates running for council in Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York, where the intersection is located

Six of the 12 answered, saying they were aware of the issue. Joe Mihevc, the current councillor who was appointed to replace Joe Cressy and is not running in the municipal election, did not respond.

Riness says the issue could potentially sway her vote in that election.

"If a politician said they could correct the problem and got on this, I'd vote for them in an instant, but I don't know any politicians that are even addressing the issue," she said.

"It's going to make some of us move out of here if we can't get it fixed."