Improvements proposed for sewage works on the borough boundary are hoping to help alleviate the summer stench residents experience.

Built in 1932 Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, which serves over 1.8m people living and working in north and west London, has submitted an application for enhancements at the Isleworth site to Hounslow Council, intended to not only improve the efficiency of the works, but the odour too.

Richmond Council has also been notified of the works and asked to comment on the plans.

Since 2005 Thames Water have been working to control and reduce offending odours installing odour control tanks and covering over large areas where the smelliest of processes take place.

Andy Gingell of Thames Water project communications said: "We can't stop Mogden from smelling but we can try and control what odours we release and let people know if it's going to be smellier than usual by sending emails to those that have registered on our website."

One of the problem areas for odours are the stormwater tanks, which hold partially treated excess rainwater, located on the east side of the 120 acre works which a number of residential homes back on to.

Mogden can deal with a maximum flow of 690 megalitres of waste water a day but if this is exceeded, and the storm tanks become too full, the partially treated storm sewage overflows into the Thames, which can be harmful to fish and other aquatic life.

By building five additional primary settlement tanks and 10 final settlement tanks on already land already owned by Thames Water on the west side of Mogden, more sewage will be able to pass through the treatment process, reducing the overflow and the smelly water standing stagnant.

Area operations manager Keith Gardener said: "When it drops it down with rain, we have a limited capacity.

"The improvements will see an 80 per cent decrease in water not fully treated and we won't have to use our storm tanks as much.

"We will be covering the new primary tanks and extending the new odour control acessing it.

"There will be no increase in odour - at the worst it will be odour-neutral."

If proposals are given the green light it is hoped work will begin this winter and be completed by 2012.

For more information visit http://www.thameswater.co.uk/Mogden or call 0845 9200 800.