Development and validating procedure of a formula to calculate a minimum separation distance from piggeries and poultry facilities to sensitive receptors

A specific formula to calculate separation distance from piggeries and poultry facilities to sensitive receptor is developed for Walloon Region, in Belgium. The paper briefly presents the main principles of the formula and discusses more deeply the compatibility of the distance approach with odour units, odour rate and percentiles usually applied to assess the odour annoyance zones. A method of validation is presented and tested to adjust the different parameters of the formula to Belgian field reality. A total of 43 farms of which 21 piggeries and 22 poultry facilities are visited and, for each case, the distance calculated by the formula is compared to the one deduced from odour annoyance criterion (10 ou m−3 at 98th percentile). Validation work results in discussing the sensibility of different factors of the formula and especially in adjusting a fitting factor to match the absolute distances to real field annoyance impression. Conclusions show that both approaches – separation distance formula and percentile evaluation – are coherent. The validation method allows parameter adjustment but should need further refinements to examine separately piggeries and poultry facilities.