The Italian pilot will be carried out in the Municipalities of Castellanza, Marnate and Olgiate Olona. Which are located in the Region of Lombardy. The study involves 4 different industries and will validate the D-NOSES methodology by means of comparison of data gathered through the application of traditional methods (i.e. olfactometry + dispersion modelling).

The situation

The 3 Municipalities are experiencing an odour problem since years: Odour complaints have been collected in a non-organized way since 2016. 4 industries are potentially responsible of the odour problem, but the origin of the nuisance has not been identified yet.

D-Noses role and aims

The pilot was selected because it represents an excellent opportunity to prove the suitability of the D-NOSES methodology in a complex situation, where different industries are involved and the causes of the odour is unknown. In this case, the application of the D-NOSES methodology is particularly useful in order to get to answer the question “Where does the odour come from?”. This is particularly interesting because identifying odour provenance is a complex task that is hardly addressed by traditional methods. Moreover, there is the opportunity to cross the observation data with the data gathered by means of the traditional methods, since the procedure foreseen by the Guideline of the Region of Lombardy (i.e. olfactometric analyses + dispersion modelling) shall be applied.

Progress so far

Currently we are in phase 5, data collection (we have a total of 383 observation since May 2020 to the end of the year) and we are starting phase 6, data analysis. In early 2020 we held train meetings with citizens; during summer months we did site inspections. Today, while citizens are continuing to make observations, we are cooperating with the stakeholders (residents, industries, authorities), showcasing preliminary results to identify, together, actions to take forward.