Archived News

26th March 2011

It’s the time of year to muck out cattle sheds and spread muck on fields before cultivation; a traditional farming technique undertaken for hundreds of years designed to recycle nutrients and fertilize soil. 

Over recent years however, with greater expectations to recycle products and to protect the environment, Thames Water has also been applying recycled product to fields in the Home Counties. 

The spreading is undertaken by a contractor under the control of Thames Water and can give rise to an unfamiliar smell for a few days until the product is incorporated into the soil by ploughing or discing. 

When the product was dropped off in a nearby field it reminded me of cabbages; unfamiliar but not dreadful; however when it was spread yesterday it created an entirely different and stronger smell.  The smell will naturally be greater during the spreading and tends to subside within 24 hours.

It might be the unusually warm weather this week that’s made the smell worse than in the past, but we’ll be making inquiries with Thames Water to see whether they have an explanation.

In the meantime we’ll get the soil turned over in these fields as fast as possible to try to alleviate the problem as best we can.