Odor problems in urban areas have become a common cause of public complaints. In order to gain a better understanding of odor problems, we investigated the emission characteristics of odorants originating from manholes (n=22) and stormwater catch basi...
Odor problems in urban areas have become a common cause of public complaints. In order to gain a better understanding of odor problems, we investigated the emission characteristics of odorants originating from manholes (n=22) and stormwater catch basins (n=48) (SCBs) around Wangsimni station in Seoul. To this end, concentrations of H2S and NH3 were measured after arbitrarily dividing the whole study area into five different districts. Our measurements were made to allow comparisons between three different criteria: (1) manholes vs. SCBs, (2) temporal variation between morning vs. afternoon, and (3) water content in the sewer system. The average concentration of H2S in manholes and SCB were 2.39 ppm and 0.81 ppm, respectively. In contrast, their NH3 counterparts were 1.86 ppm and 1.02 ppm, respectively. According to the contouring method made to identify spatial distribution characteristics, of odorants a relatively lowland site D was expected to work as a significant emission source in light of the transportation patterns of a sewer system. Moreover, higher concentrations of odorants were prevalent in the afternoon (as the prime time for commercial activities) relative to before noon. If concentration data are converted into odor intensity, H2S was the predominant component exerting controls on the odor pollution in these underground environments.