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.