The source of a sulphurous smell that was bothering residents near 216 Street and Highway One since January has been identified as a local mushroom farm.
Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward posted on his Facebook page last week that the source of the smell has been confirmed by Township staff.
Mushroom manure is a form of compost and is the byproduct of mushroom farming. It's a useful fertilizer, but mixing it creates powerful odours.
Woodward said the operators of the mushroom farm have agreed to stop mixing mushroom manure and topsoil.
"If the issue persists, bylaw enforcement action will continue to escalate," Woodward wrote. "To ensure compliance, follow-up inspections by the Township of Langley will be ongoing."
He noted that Metro Vancouver remains the lead enforcement agency in this case, because of its role in monitoring and managing air quality in the region.
The area where residents were holding their noses was close to the boundary between urban Langley and rural Langley. The boundary between developing areas and the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) runs down 216 Street through much of north Langley.
"Of course, where urban areas meet farmland along the urban containment and our community's ALR boundaries, there will be issues," Woodward wrote. "As an urban, but also largely rural community, I think we all understand that. However, mixing mushroom manure is an industrial use, not rural."
Air quality relating to mushroom manure has caused political struggles in Langley and Surrey in the past, going back to the 1990s. Complaints about manure processing back then led to public protests, and Metro Vancouver eventually stepped in to regulate the issue.
