Air quality and odours
The local residents were concerned about air quality and odour resulting from the clean up operation. Air quality and odours are measured on a daily basis on site throughout the clean up operation. emda can then monitor and address any concerns from the local community.
Although there are links between air quality and odour, these issues have to be tackled separately.
There are several air quality monitoring stations on site. The stations monitor particles in the air and wind direction to help the team work out whether particles are coming from The Avenue site or elsewhere.
Odours present an interesting problem. The only device available to monitor the impact of odours is the human nose. People react differently to different smells. In legal terms offensive smells fall into two categories: a smell that is an annoyance (this doesn't break the law) and a smell that is a nuisance (this does break the law). Specially trained assessors carry out sniff testing.
The local community around the Avenue site have been asked to keep odour diary sheets to help the assessors who are monitoring problems from odours.
