The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ air-quality staff, specially trained to sniff out odors, has just completed a three year study to evaluate odors associated with livestock facilities. Their conclusion: odors related to livestock operations topped the odor benchmark in just 7 percent of the 1,708 measurements from 2002 through 2005.
Regulators indicate that these findings are not likely to trigger the department to set odor limits unless required to do so by state legislators. The legislators recently cut funding for the testing program which will be discontinued.
Opponents of large hog confinement units and a University of Iowa environmental health scientist have charged that the study is flawed since measurements were not taken early in the morning and at night, when lower winds would have brought stronger odors.
Source:
Des Moines Register, March 9,2006