Sinkhole in Parnell Photo: Watercare
The huge sinkhole in the Auckland suburb of Parnell is causing a stink, with neighbouring business reporting foul smells in the area.
The sinkhole opened up last month above a broken and blogged sewer main pipe which is sending massive amounts of raw sewage into the Waitematā Harbour.
Now, while work goes on repairing the sinkhole and installing an emergency bypass pipe, businesses nearby faced another hurdle - foul smells coming from the nearby hole.
At Tilespace, Ellen said they had been lucky it had not wafted into their office.
However, she said outside was a different story.
"As we've walked through the car park, and down the road we have definitely smelt some foul odours," she said.
"But, luckily, it's not come into our building at all."
She described the smell as "pretty whiffy", and said she was worried the sinkhole would put off customers as foot traffic picked up after the school holidays.
"I expect, as we ramp up into the busiest part of our year, it will start to affect our foot traffic, but hopefully not too bad."
A main sewer line collapsed in Auckland, leaving a massive sinkhole 13 metres deep on a private property in Parnell, Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
At a cafe down the road, barista Crystal described just how bad the smell was.
"It smells like poo," she said "or a really bad fart".
She said some days were better than others.
"You just get whiffs of it here and there. It was like cooking in the sun, and the heat."
Cheryl Adamson from the Parnell Business Association said it was just more disruption which kept potential customers away.
"Since Covid, whenever there's an impediment to going to work we choose to work from home," she said.
"So I think, probably road works and disruptions like this, there's probably a few more people working from home, plus there's been school holidays, and I think the third thing is parking capacity."
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Adamson said they were counting on Watercare to get the emergency fix done quickly.
"I just certainly hope that Watercare are able to keep to their commitments of completing the laying of all the pipes and that by the 17th of October," she said.
"If that's possible, that would be amazing because that will take away an enormous amount of disruption off the street."
The Watercare board was expected to discuss the sinkhole at a meeting on Tuesday.
