Sewage odour near campus entrance remains a mystery

There has been a foul odour in the air for a number of weeks now near the intersection of the Burgemeester Oudlaan and the Abraham van Rijckevorselweg. At this time the source of this odour still hasn’t been determined.

According to students passing through this area, the smell resembles that of ‘manure’ or ‘a stinking sanitary block’ or ‘sewage’. The Municipality of Rotterdam insists that construction further up the street on the Burgemeester Oudlaan is not the cause of the problem.

19 year old student Alex Zalivin detects the smell almost daily; sometimes it’s strong and sometimes it’s not as pervasive. “I think the smell is more noticeable when it rains”, says Zalavin. Dublin native Adam Dunne (20) often walks by this location on his way to lectures and tutorials. He smells it too. “It reminds me of an old sewer.” He’s noticed the smell since the first day of classes in September. “I always thought it had something to do with construction work.”

Foul odour not linked to work on the Burgemeester Oudlaan

Sjoerd Ennenga, the municipality’s contact person for the construction project on the Burgemeester Oudlaan denies this. He says the smell has nothing to do with the construction work. The municipality is not working on the sewers in the area where the smell is prevalent: the tram turning loop. The tramline’s electricity substation is being relocated to make room for student housing.

Further up on the ’s Gravenweg the municipality is carrying out work on the sewers, but these works have nothing to do with foul odours. A leak in the sewage system resulted in groundwater entering the sewers. This leak is being repaired. The municipality stated that it wasn’t aware of any sewage odour. We’ll note it in a report so we can deal with the problem”, said a municipality of Rotterdam employee.