The testing of the system ODORTEL was conducted in Taranto in agreement with ARPA Puglia in order to monitor the olfactory annoyance through an innovative tool from November 2013 to the spring of 2016.
Thanks to the ODORTEL system it was possible to eliminate the use of special paper questionnaires entrusted to the population making the data accessible in real time.
ODORTEL® is a telecommunication / receiving system of the olfactory discomfort through which some citizen volunteers, called receptors and georeferenced in the territory, have the possibility, in real time, to communicate the perceived noise.
During the testing, the autosampler ODORPREP® was used to perform the sampling of air to be analyzed by dynamic olfactometry in accordance with standard international technical UNI EN 13725: 2004. The activation of the sampling was subject to passing a threshold (number of calls) preset.
Through olfactometric analysis it was possible to confirm and validate objectively the perception of the receptors in the territory, that have been an active part of the monitoring of plants that, potentially, can produce olfactory annoyance.
The OdorTel® project, in the three years of experimentation, has allowed the digitized management of olfactory annoyance reported by citizens - receptors and has provided information on the magnitude of this annoyance on the territory.
The study of odor events related to meteorological data (wind direction and speed) has also permitted the identification of potential sources of odor emissions in the city of Taranto.
One of the main goals of ACQUEDOTTO PUGLIESE S.p.A. is the support to the environment protection of the territory. Therefore, in order to support and integrate its activities within the town of Polignano a Mare, together with its awareness that odour is an environmental variable that can deeply influence the quality of life and affect economic activities, Acquedotto gives to the citizens of Polignano the system ODORTEL® for the digitized management of reports of olfactory nuisance, possibly generated by the water treatment plant managed by AQP SpA.
ODORTEL®, in fact, is an automated communication system of the olfactory discomfort through which it is possible to record in real time the perception of sensitive receptors and optimize the odour monitoring timing.
Citizens have the most important role in the project ODORTEL®; the system relies on the support of a group of volunteers called "sensitive receptors", georeferenced on the territory, which communicate the perception and intensity of the olfactory nuisance in real time by contacting a telephone switchboard.
After having been identified, the user can communicate the degree of olfactory discomfort through phone buttons (1 for a "barely perceptible" smell, 2 for a "persistent" smell and 3 for a "very strong " smell).
With a simple phone call the perceived nuisance is digitized by the system and is registered into a database. In the same moment, the call is displayed in real time on a Google map.
When the set threshold value of reports (number of calls) in a defined period is exceeded, it is possible to activate the air sampling through the ODORPREP® sampling system.
Simultaneously, another SMS is sent to the lab in order to activate the procedures for both collecting the sample bag and for analyzing it according to the international technical standard UNI EN 13725: 2004; in this way it is possible to objectify the receptors’ perception and evaluate the intensity of the odour nuisance.