Community leaders are confident of finding a solution to the foul odour which has plagued an area of Aberdeen for more than a decade.
Members of Torry community council and other locals were given access to the Nigg waste water treatment works this week to learn more about efforts to address the problem.
Scottish Water is taking action to upgrade the site, which has been blamed for the vast majority of complaints about the so-called “Torry pong”.
A spokesman for Scottish the company said: “Together with site operators, Kelda Water Services Grampian, Scottish Water hosted a visit to Nigg waste water treatment works on Thursday for a variety of local stakeholders including local MSP Maureen Watt and members of the Torry community council.
“We shall continue to keep all stakeholders appraised of developments.”
Professor Rob Jackson, an expert brought in to find a solution, has described the Nigg plant as “overworked and tired”.
He said: “It needs a great deal of money to be spent on it to return it to 100% performance.
“This problem will not be solved this summer.
“Odour problems in the community may, in fact, get worse before they get better.”
Maureen Watt, who chairs the Torry Odours Stakeholder Group, said: “This is the second time I’ve visited the site, I saw there was a tremendous amount of work going on to upgrade it.
“As Professor Rob Jackson said the site is tired and needs investment to make it fit for the next part its life.
“There is no quick solution but I am hopeful it can be fixed over the long term.”
David Fryer, secretary of the Torry community council, said: “We have seen for ourselves a lot of work is being done to improve the water treatment works.
“We were given an explanation of what needs to be done.
“It will require millions of pounds to bring the sight up to the basic requirements, which is that no odour problems will be associated with it.”
He added: “We would encourage people to continue to report odours to the Sepa line and get a reference number.”