Controlling Noxious Animal Odours : An Imperative at the Rural-Urban Interface - Review -

Reaction by neighbours to odours is increasingly affecting operations of existing animal farming operations and may adversely constrain the further development of the animal production industry in some parts of Australia. It is critical that the scale of such odour impact on the rural-urban interface be estimated to provide useful information both for environmental protection and animal farming operations. Furthermore, the information can be used to modify odour reduction strategies as economic conditions change. The Centre for Water and Waste Technology at The University of New South Wales has developed a comprehensive set of odour control techniques in the course of its research and development effort over the past eight years. Techniques have been developed for odour sampling at point, area and volume sources, monitoring environmental parameters such as ventilation rate, shed temperature, shed humidity, litter water content and ambient meteorological condition, olfactometry and odour dispersion modelling. The work has paved the way for the establishment of odour reduction strategies based on best environmental management practice and advanced odour abatement technologies.