I'm interested in how people document and report odors, both to compile community information and to notify local authorities of a problem that needs to be addressed.
What resources have you seen? Does your county have a reporting form or online platform? Have you used on online platform like SmellPGH or the FracTracker app? I'd love to compile a list and people's thoughts about their utility for different purposes!
I know of a couple of well established online reporting platforms, each with somewhat different features:
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s iWitness Map. This is based on (an older version of) the Ushahidi platform, and allows people to make and classify reports of smells, visible flaring, symptoms, etc. I haven’t been involved directly with it, but I know it was very effective in 2014 when the community of St. Rose was experiencing bad pollution from a nearby tank farm. Their stack of reports, put in the right hands, resulted in regulators doing additional air monitoring in the community.
IVAN (Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods) network is a reporting platform used by a number of California communities. I believe the the technology is similar to the iWitness Map, but a key component of IVAN is that communities work in partnership with public agencies to evaluate and act on the problems documented by reporting. The Center for Regional Change at UC Davis has released a study of the network (complete with benefits, challenges, and recommendations).
Thanks Gwen @ottinger! These are great resources. We have community members in central CA who have used IVAN for visual emissions -- it's good to know about the odor reporting too.
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