Identifying and Controlling Odor in the Municipal Wastewater Environment, Health Effects of Biosolids Odors

This report deals with whether the experience of odors, i.e., odors as sensations, from biosolids at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) causes illness. There exists no repository of information on the numbers of complainants with illness, their specific complaints, or the relationship between degree of exposure and complaints. Anecdotal reports nevertheless imply a pattern much like that associated with other industrial malodors. Any connection between odor and illness has received little note among the millions of articles in the medical literature. This state of affairs presumably exists because odors per se generate no objective signs of illness in otherwise healthy persons. However, malodors may exacerbate both symptoms and signs of illness in persons with certain chronic disorders, such as asthma and migraine. Vulnerability to such effects may vary considerably from person to person.