SOUTH West Water is being threatened with legal action for the stench coming from its sewage treatment works in Exeter.
Residents across a large part of the city have complained that the sewage works in Countess Wear is making their lives a misery.
The water company has been criticised by Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw and leading councillors after scores of complaints were made over recent weeks.
And the Environment Agency has told the Echo it is considering enforcement action against the company over the stench.
South West Water has apologised and says it is investing £6m in a new processing plant which will improve things. But it is not due to be operational until April 2014.
Marilyn Myers, from Countess Wear, who has children aged three and five, said: "The smell is just unbearable and is making my children feel sick. The first thing you can smell in the morning is poo.
"People pay a lot of money to live in Exeter and this smell is quite widespread. I have made numerous phone calls to SWW but nobody appears to listen to us."
A resident of Exe Vale Road, who did not wish to be named, said: "We have had the smell almost unbroken for the last six weeks. It is very unpleasant, tangy, the sort of smell that you can taste. At times it has been absolutely appalling."
Marcel Choules, city councillor for Priory, said that he had numerous complaints from residents. MP Ben Bradshaw said: "Given SWW's huge profits and ever increasing water bills it is intolerable people should have to suffer this stench for so long.
"I welcome the action being taken by Exeter City Council and the Environment Agency.
"It is essential SWW resolves this nuisance as a matter of urgency and provides a full explanation as to why it has taken so long.
"Local people also need reassuring that the treatment works will be able to cope with the extra volume of sewage from Cranbrook and other new housing east of Exeter and this problem won't recur."
The Environment Agency has told the Echo that it believes the smell has been caused because of the failure of part of the treatment process which caused a build-up of sewage sludge while temporary repairs were carried out.
A spokesman for the agency said: "In the past two weeks South West Water has carried out a complete overhaul of the piece of equipment that caused the failure.
"In the short term we expect SWW to return the site to normal operating conditions as a matter of urgency."
A spokeswoman for SWW said: "We apologise to anyone experiencing odour nuisance from Countess Wear during the hot weather.
"We are bringing in extra equipment to assist with the sludge processing at the plant in the short term.
"A major £6m investment at Countess Wear, including a new enclosed and odour-controlled sludge processing plant should help alleviate the risk of these issues in the future.
"In the meantime, we are working hard to improve the situation as rapidly as we can."
