Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Greater Napanee council took time during Tuesday’s regular meeting to discuss the elephant in the room, or rather the scent in the air, that had been maligned on social media throughout the week.
“There’s comments about the smell in the neighbourhood this week,” said councillor Max Kaiser. “I just want it to be known and understood that every agricultural operation that generates manure has provincially regulated oversight on their manure management strategy.”
The same goes for any farm that applies the manure to their land, said Kaiser. He says there was no risk to any groundwater sources or the environment. Furthermore, the town had no recourse to prevent any farmers from applying the substance, so long as they follow those regulations. Even then, it would be a provincial matter.
“The application of manure solids recently had to have been within regulations,” said Kaiser. “It’s unfortunate that the smell lasted. I think that was more environmental because it had been quite dry the last couple of weeks and (Monday) night’s half inch of rain was all it took to wash the smell away, which is what we expected.”
While it may be an unpleasant odour to most, Kaiser said driving through town last week actually brought back ‘nostalgia’ of the autumn season to him having grown up in the farming business.