THE end could be in sight for long-suffering residents who have endured months of foul sewage smells.

Five weeks after The Westmorland Gazette launched the Stop the Stink campaign, water bosses have confirmed they have the money to tackle the odours from Kendal's sewage works - and work is due to start next January.

The assurances from North West Water were given at last Friday's meeting of the Wattsfield Road sewage plant liaison group.

Coun Gill Cranwell, who chairs the group, said NWW representatives assured that money "is not an issue" when it comes to tackling the smells, and the company has the funds to install odour-control technology at the plant in the New Year.

The Gazette launched Stop the Stink to urge NWW to tackle the smells once and for all, to give financial backing for any plans drawn up, and to give residents a firm start date for any works.

NWW's timetable of proposed works shows that design work on odour control systems is due to start next month.

The technology is set to be installed between January and March 2001, hopefully ending months of misery for householders, who say the stink disturbs their sleep, prevents them from opening windows in hot weather, spoils their enjoyment of their gardens, and embarrasses their visitors.

A newsletter which was compiled following the liaison group meeting will be posted to residents in the next few days.

It outlines what has already happened at the plant:

m Monitoring systems have been checked, with some renovated or replaced.

m A fault in the oxygen-generating equipment has been repaired.

The system is now operating satisfactorily.

It is crucial that the right amount of oxygen is supplied so the sewage can be completely broken down, producing a high-quality effluent with a "slightly earthy" odour.

If oxygen levels drop, the sludge smells bad.

Alan Chester, who runs the Kendal plant, told the liaison group that "huge quantities" of oxygen were being pumped into the treatment process to counteract that.

m Septic tank deliveries to the site have been stopped.

m An "air scrubbing" system has been fitted to treat smelly air which is displaced when tankers are filled with sludge.

m Odour surveys have identified the main source of the smell - the covered oxygen-actived sludge tank.

NWW continues to monitor smells; meanwhile, South Lakeland District Council is carrying out surveys on the sewage works boundary, and investigating the sewer system for odour break-outs.

Coun Gill Cranwell, who chairs the liaison group, described last Friday's meeting as "very positive".

"It's clear that NWW has been doing an awful lot of work, and the difficulty has been not an unwillingness, but the slowness of finding out what the problem was," she said.

"We are very confident that they've now got the answer, and it's simply a matter of getting this work done."