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Saturday, October 29, 2016

A Big Smell coming to Penyffordd?


If we return to standard wind patterns I won't be smelling it at my house. These tanks are filled with "effluent" , the tanks shown at the top of the Vounog on the left. The effluent is sprayed on the fields.

Various substances are used. Some of them highly unpleasant, smells like dead animals. Not sure air borne particles from these operations are good for health.

Not a million miles from David's house......

If you see any of this crap in water courses, clue dead fish, take photos and contact Cllr Cindy Hinds or Cllr David Williams.

It's  against the law.

postscript: http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/126820/stench-from-fields-near-sealand-is-making-us-ill.aspx

Bed time reading or maybe not..... http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=manuals
Extract: ( it's to do with workers who work in sewage farms )
7. Are workers exposed to diseases by inhalation? Inhalation itself may lead to a respiratory infection or the respiratory mucous laden with trapped pathogens may be swallowed so that the infection actually occurs in the digestive tract. Aerosols might contaminate food or water and lead infection in the digestive system. Organisms which can infect the lungs include Mycobacterium tuberculosis and some of the enteric viruses. It is difficult to study health effects from aerosols since the treatment plant is located within the area it serves: the ultimate sources of the pathogens in the aerosol are infected individuals in the service area. It is difficult to determine if the route of transmission for a disease was wastewater contact or contact with other people.

The amount and survival of microorganisms in wastewater aerosols depends upon the amount of the organism in the wastewater, aeration basin, or sludge; the amount of material aerosolized; what happens to the aerosol while in the air (such as drying of moisture or impact with a surface); and the die-off of the organisms with distance in the downwind direction. Even when these circumstances are known, interpreting the health risk from the information is difficult since it is necessary to consider what is the quantity of a particular pathogen required to start an infection in people. Bacteria and viruses are not necessarily evenly distributed throughout a liquid, but can concentrate in the in the surface microlayer. This affects how many organisms can be put into the air.

During aeration, when air bubbles break at the air-water interface, microorganisms are ejected into the atmosphere. The bacterial concentration in the ejected drops from bubbles may, depending upon the drop size, be from 1 to 1000 times that of the water from which the bubbles burst. Wind is the most important environmental factor that determines the aerosol spread of the pathogens. When in an aerosol, the survival of the organisms depends upon relative humidity, temperature and sunlight. These factors cause a die-off of microorganisms: the indicator organisms appear to be affected by this shock of aerosolization than are the pathogens, (Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Clostridium perfringens, Mycobacterium, and enteric viruses.

Typically, indicator organisms are used to indicate the possible presence of associated pathogenic bacteria and human viruses because the pathogens are difficult to assay and seldom occur at readily detectable concentrations. Studies have shown that there can be a very poor correlation between pathogens and indicator organisms. Also, changes in indicator organisms may not relate to changes in pathogen concentrations. Fecal streptococcus may be a better indicator for aerosolized wastewater. The measure of the spread of pathogens by aerosols can be done rapidly and inexpensively by monitoring cyanophages, viruses that attack the blue-green bacteria (cyanobacteria).

The LLP-cyanophages are not fecal organisms but may be good indicators of water pollution since they appear in polluted water when pathogens are present, survive longer than pathogens (more resistant to chlorination than coliforms), and are detected by a simple test. Diffused aeration activated sludge causes little aerosol release of cyanophages in comparison to the mechanical aeration. A trickling filter also produces aerosols while the filter is in operation; the more filters a plant has, the higher the bacterial content of the air downwind of the filter. A study showed that both coliform bacteria and total organisms are higher in the air at night than during the day, showing the effect on bacterial death. Higher airborne levels of organisms were present when the relative humidity was above 35% or during high wind speeds.

2 comments:

  1. Can't smell anything........

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seems the tanks are being used to hold effluent. Tractors with tank sprayers are heading north of the village up Chester Rd.

    ReplyDelete

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