can you 'smell' the logic epa ...?

Firstly, I am not a big fan of landfills. Full stop. No-one wants them on their doorstep. But – but, everyone ‘on the doorstep’ uses them. A fair point? I think so. To the matter in hand…

I got a press release [read it in full here] to my mailbox that Clare County Council had received a *Non-Compliance Order From the EPA* regarding odour issues at its Central Waste Management Facility at Ballyduffbeg, near Inagh in County Clare.

The report relates to out-of-hours odour surveys carried out by an EPA inspector, who was based in the vicinity of the landfill from 31 January to 4 February 2009.

[who] …reported an odour, which he described as “moderate and impersistent” on 14 out of the 54 occasions. The EPA definition of a moderate odour is one that is ‘’easily detectable while walking and breathing normally, possibly offensive’’.

I emailed the PR company who drafted the release. They put me in touch with Clare County Councils Director of Service Ger Dollard. A nice guy. Here’s our conversation:

I emailed the PR firm first:

A Chara Mark

I was wondering if Clare County Coucil may be able to give details reagrding the ‘odour patrol’ – what exactly is an odour patrol ?

many thanks

Peter,

Your query below refers.

An odour patrol relates to staff representatives not working at the landfill driving a predetermined route on a regular basis to assess any odour issues at pre determined points.

The HSE also undertakes a separate odour patrol on a fortnightly basis whereby staff from the HSE drive around the general area and make a determination whether or not odour is evident at any particular location.

Hope this addresses your query.

Regards,

Gerard Dollard

Director of Service

A Chara Ger,

thank you for replying to my mail. For someone who knows little about this, do do they use specific equipment or is it just a sense of smell?

many thanks

Just a sense of smell. Staff not involved in the site are used so that it is a “fresh” perspective.

Eventually Ger called me. And so it seems The EPA’s specialist equipment for measuring smells is the nose they were born with. You heard me correctly… I know for example with aeroplanes we can measure noise levels. But your nose