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Des Moines updates odor-monitoring program; industry pledges controls and more sensors
Summary
City staff reported 11 months of monitoring showing hydrogen sulfide and VOCs correlate with complaint spikes; the city will raise alert thresholds, add community monitors and weather stations, and industry partners Smithfield and Darling described investments to reduce emissions.
Dalton, neighborhood inspections division administrator for the City of Des Moines, briefed the City Council on Oct. 21 on an 11-month review of the city—s odor-monitoring program and steps to reduce false alerts and focus investigations. The presentation followed complaint data traced back to 2016 and a deployment of 10 sensors and a weather station.
The city—s monitoring and complaint analysis show most odor complaints arrive in summer and fall and between about 6 a.m. and 11 a.m., Dalton said. Staff identified 26 —critical days— (days with five or more complaints) in the monitoring period. On those days, hydrogen sulfide concentrations tended to be higher and winds were slower and more often from the southeast, supporting backward-trajectory analysis that can point to source areas.
"We do think that hydrogen sulfide is one of the compounds that is causing odor complaints in the city," Dalton said. He told councilors…
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