Cape Breton residents cry foul about odour at Sydney Harbour

Many residents in Sydney Harbour, N.S., are wondering about a strange smell.

For the past couple of weeks, people living on both sides of Sydney Harbour, N.S., have been complaining about an odour that seemed to come from the water.

“It usually has a bit of a sulphury, sewer type of smell,” said Rod Beresford, who has been living on the Westmount side of the harbour for about 20 years.

Beresford is also a biology professor at Cape Breton University.

He says this is not the first time he and his neighbours have noticed a smell from the water during summer. On some past occasions, he figured it was organic material rotting on the harbour floor, but he thinks it is too early in the summer for that explanation to make sense this time.

“I don’t know exactly, but I think what’s happening this time of year is while we haven’t really had warm temperatures, what we have had is a lot of wind,” Beresford said. “A lot of wind from the south and a lot of wind from the north, which could very well be stirring up the bottom.”

“The team believes that it’s an organic issue that’s coming from the harbour right now,” said Steve Gillespie, Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillor.

Gillespie said he and other council colleagues has received plenty of complaints. Some have wondered if the smell could be sewage, but Gillespie is confident that is not the case.

“Our solid waste team has gone through the entire westside system and there is no problem with our sewer system,” Gillespie said. “We don’t know what this is.”

A spokesperson for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality confirmed to CTV Atlantic that its wastewater treatment plants are operating as expected.

While Friday’s afternoon high hit about 30 C, there did not seem to be any noticeable smell near the water.

“I don’t think there is anything to be concerned about,” Beresford said. “It was quite strong for a few days, but I haven’t noticed it for I would say probably almost a week now.”

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