Abstract
Odours emissions that result from anthropic activities and may cause an adverse effect on health status, social and individual life are frequently classified as airborne pollutants and are subject to control and regulation. Atmospheric dispersion of unpleasant odours is considered one of the major causes of public complaints concerning air quality and represents a growing social problem in industrialized countries. Due to the need to protect population from possible olfactory nuisances from a food industry located in an urban area in Brazil, an odour impact assessment was conducted to evaluate the annoyance level by means of community survey. The study was carried out in the surroundings of the odour source involving local residents through administration of 395 standard questionnaires in a one-shot campaign. The area of investigation was divided into five sub-areas named Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4 and Region 5 within a radius of about 2 km centered in the facility. The questionnaire applied characterized basically the public interviewed, hedonic tone, intensity, frequency and period of the day that perceived odour episodes occurred. Annoyance level were compared with the criteria of = 20 % 'at least annoyed' established by New Zealand Ambient Air Quality Guidelines, used as reference, for environmental compliance. Region 2 was the most impacted área by emissions from the facility presenting annoyance level of 31 % at least annoyed. Comparing the degree of annoyance (17 %) for all Regions with the criteria used as a reference (= 20 % at least annoyed), food industry is in accordance with maximum annoyance standard permitted. Community survey is a low cost methodology, compared to others methods, but it is difficult to insure impartial judgement in order to avoid errors in the responses. This technic can be satisfactorily used to asses odour impacts from facilities in urban areas taking into account past experiences, seasonal effects and the role of human perception through social participation.
