Smell divides Safety Bay street

A putrid smell of rotting eggs has divided neighbours in a Safety Bay street as a mother embarks on a mission to eradicate the ghastly stink.

Mayfield Road mum Moira Howard said she had collected signatures in a bid to encourage City of Rockingham officials to investigate an irrigation problem at Noel France Reserve.

Mrs Howard said the stench had worsened in the seven years since she moved to the street and she regularly awoke to the smell.

She said the odour from sprinklers at the reserve had become intolerable.

But other neighbours disagreed, saying the smell came hand-in-hand with living in the Safety Bay area.

"It's so awful, it wakes you up from sleep - it depends on the wind direction, but most days it is just awful," Mrs Howard said.

Nearby Penguin Road resident Kevin Baker said his work life was beginning to suffer because he was regularly woken by the smell.

But fellow Mayfield Road resident Graham Scott worried irrigation may be switched off, causing grass and trees to die.

Mr Scott said the reserve was a wonderful asset to the community and residents must accept the bad smell.

Mayor Barry Sammels said water samples taken at the site in October last year indicated the presence of hydrogen sulfide, a chemical with a distinctive odour of rotten eggs.

Cr Sammels said the City had since undertaken more detailed water samples and was reviewing options to determine how best to manage the issue.