M1 M25 Junction - what the HELL is that SMELL?

[Zak33]

Sewage sludge that's spread on farms would have been treated to a point where it'd resemble compost and certainly wouldn't be foul smelling.

If treated sewage sludge (treated to the level where it could be spread) smelt bad, that's enough for the operators to shut down the sludge treatment stream of a wastewater treatment plant, because that would indicate that the treatment process has gone wrong.
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that's not the case.. I think it's sewage .. think he's right.

My parent lived in Devon and the fields around them, yearly, smelled like that. ... it's gotta be part human sewage on fields

[Zak33]

That smell is The South.

what... Mediterannean Armpit? That "South"?

[DDY]

You sure about that?
Bearing in mind I'm sat in the office of one such treatment works at this very minute...

If you look at some of the larger and older STWs, the sludge drying beds can put out some serious odour. The one just off J17 of the M25 is very much like this, to the point where you can smell if it's just after Christmas just from the sprouty reek!
As far as spreading goes, it still can smell pretty bad, but being open land the wind usually takes away the worser part of it.

Yep, 100% on that.

Key word is sludge that's sent to be spread, if it causes foul odour and could cause someone to make a reasonable complaint, it'll be non compliant and DEFRA would have a very stern word with those involved.

Sludge drying beds can be malodourous, it's a legitimate sludge treatment process and would be subject to operating consent which would include odour limits set by the local council and the EA. When that sludge is spread for disposal or as a fertiliser in an agricultural setting, it falls within the remit of DEFRA who state it must not cause a malodourous nuisance.

EDIT: To qualify my earlier comment about shutting down treatment processes when odour becomes problematic, there is a movement in the wastewater industry to manage odours which has been ongoing for some time. Many existing sludge treatment processes are being upgraded or retrofitted with odour management systems and all modern sludge treatment plants are virtually odour free from the outside. Sludge drying beds are relatively rare in the UK and are being phased out given the issues with odour, among other issues.

As such, modern or upgraded sludge treatment plants will be subject to reactive measures, such as shutdown, if excessive odour is indicating an operational issue.

that's not the case.. I think it's sewage .. think he's right.

My parent lived in Devon and the fields around them, yearly, smelled like that. ... it's gotta be part human sewage on fields

It could be animal waste or other farm waste, sewage sludge and manure/slurries of animal origin are subject to different treatment requirements.

[Ttaskmaster]

Key word is sludge that's sent to be spread, if it causes foul odour and could cause someone to make a reasonable complaint, it'll be non compliant and DEFRA would have a very stern word with those involved.

They've not had any words, stern or otherwise, with any of the sites I visit or work on in the past 22 years... and they do reek. Might be that absolutely no-one has complained in all that time, but given the national NIMBY mentality I suspect otherwise.

Same for the actual treatment works, barring one which was very old and now has new odourless tech, along with big biogas digesters... and yet it's sat right next to the town dump.

[DDY]

They've not had any words, stern or otherwise, with any of the sites I visit or work on in the past 22 years... and they do reek. Might be that absolutely no-one has complained in all that time, but given the national NIMBY mentality I suspect otherwise.

Same for the actual treatment works, barring one which was very old and now has new odourless tech, along with big biogas digesters... and yet it's sat right next to the town dump.

I assume you're in wastewater operations, in which case Defra won't have anything to do with your sites. The EA and the local councils will however and they're the ones who'd give you grief about odour if they find you've breached your permit to operate, e.g. your site stinks too much.

An interesting point is that the permits for existing sites are substantially more lenient than for new sites, which due to the NIMBY mentality influencing planning requirements has pretty much set the bar to zero odour.

[Ttaskmaster]

I assume you're in wastewater operations, in which case Defra won't have anything to do with your sites.

Not the STWs, but I also work around various farms where they do a lot of spreading.

which due to the NIMBY mentality influencing planning requirements has pretty much set the bar to zero odour.

Yeah, that ain't ever gonna happen. Not until everyone stops flushing things they shouldn't...!

[ik9000]

it is entirely feasible to make plants that emit zero odour. it is however a lot more costly and complicated. good on the councils who demand high limits. proud of my family members who were the council officers who imposed tight limits. quite right too.