Swildons - Peculiar Aroma

[Les W]

The area described is pretty much under the top green and village hall area. I don't expect it is creosote. Heating oil is a possibility as is diesel. There is a farm opposite top green (over the start of Vicarage Passage) where something could have leaked, however all tanks should be bunded, and given the price of fuel/oil I would expect a financially discerning farmer to get any leaks sorted quite quickly.
It is also possible that one of the local houses has a heating oil leak but the chances of us finding it is remote.
It only takes a very small amount of volatile fluid to leak into the main airflows of the cave and pinpointing the source even within the cave can be very difficult if not impossible.

If anybody should locate the source then please let me know, there are ways of dealing with pollution if it has collected anywhere. If it is in flowing water it will clear eventually and there is very little that can be done but wait.

I suggest that if people are passing the Caliper Pot area (just after the third duck (the one after the Troubles) where the passage turns left and heads towards Glistening Gallery) could they check the pools there and also the water falling down Caliper Pot. This is the most likely location for the pollution. If it is here it will also be present in Swildons 2 (Heavy drip on the left just downstream from Sump 1).

 

[robjones]

all tanks should be bunded 

Used to work for a water authority doing what is now done by Environment Agency. Thing about bunds is that they retain rainwater - so many bunds are built with ... wait for it ... a hole to let the rain water out. Not unexpectedly, the holes are also very good at letting the bunded liquid out when a spill occurs. Best spill I attended was when the one of water authority's oil tanks leaked its contents of diesel through just such a drain hole and into a watercourse. Starnge to relate, no prosecution followed...

 

[Elaine]

Trouble is (ha - pun!), you are 350+ ft down at the troubles and the source of the pong (if from the surface) is unlikely to be from directly overhead. could be anywhere within a round mile maybe even. The only place I know where contamination from the surface will be 200ft straight down is Templeton!  (actually it is only 188ft but we have delusions of grandeur)

 

[graham]

Trouble is (ha - pun!), you are 350+ ft down at the troubles and the source of the pong (if from the surface) is unlikely to be from directly overhead. could be anywhere within a round mile maybe even. The only place I know where contamination from the surface will be 200ft straight down is Templeton!  (actually it is only 188ft but we have delusions of grandeur)

Quite right, Elaine. It amazes me how many people miss this point. Consider, for example, how far the surface stream has travelled - and by how circuitous a route - by the time it reaches sump 4.

 

[caver63]

...and would you expect anyone from Imperial not to smoke? After all they get free fags!

 

[whitelackington]

I think the pigs should be called in.
Get them down there to take samples, then send off the samples to the forensic boffins.
The truth should be known.

 

[Rich C]

I did the short round (sump one bypass as it transired) and there was no smell at the 1st Trouble however when we returned and the Trouble had emptied the smell was very strong. It reminded me of Vapona an insecticide.

 

[E. Kearton]

This smell was very strong around the Troubles and Caliper during a short round I did back last May when I showed some American friends around. Disappeared completely by Birthday Squeeze and beyond into vicarage. Remember it being a diesel/petrol smell.

Ed

 

[caving_fox]

Did the short round (plus Blue pencil) on Sat 13th March.

Hydrocarbon smell noticed shortly after Mud sump. Seemed strongest at our detour up to the Priddy green inlet, and was noticeable in most of the downhill sections beyond that.

 

[4bags]

This might be a stupid question - but has anyone been using any lay-flat hose in that area of Swildon's? Only asking, coz when a length of brand-new lay-flat 2" hose was placed in the Gibbets Brow dig to help with the pumping, it produced a very strong petro-chemical smell, and most visitors thought there had been a petol / diesel leak in the cave... think the smell comes from the waterproof lining of the hose when it's new. It took a few weeks and several uses of the hose for the smell to disappear.

 

[caving_fox]

Good thought - the drip catcher draining mudsump is fairly new. It's in the right area, so it could be that. Anyone know when it was placed so we could check the times?

 

[Ali M]

The Mud Sump ?drip catcher? was installed in April 2009 and a brand new plastic pipe, 32mm in diameter was bought specifically for the purpose. The first report of pollution that I heard was in December 2009 when a strong diesel type smell was reported just on the far side of Sump I.  By Priddy Green Inlet ("shortly after the Mud Sump") do you mean Fault Chamber Aven area or the water flowing from the passage leading to Websell?s Dig (between the Greasy Chimney and Fault Chamber Junction)? As the problem is becoming long term and appears to be spreading it strikes me that it would be sensible for someone such as the CSCC (Les?) to get a sample tested. Once we know what is causing the pollution is it might become easier to trace the source.

 

[Burt]

Did the short round on Thursday with Bru. We both noticed the smell, which started around the greasy chimney and became strongest around Blue Pencil area. There was also a lot of white deposit on the mud which we had not seen before. It appears to be fungal. There is LOADS of it especially round the troubles, all over the mud deposits.
Could the smell be:
a) spores from this stuff - I got a musty, fungal smell as well as a chemically smell
b) something else (speculated above) which has caused this stuff to form?

If you have a small pot it might be an idea to take a sample of this stuff and examine it.

 

[andysnook]

Went to 4 last night, smell still there - but most shockingly the white stuff is absolutely EVERYWHERE.  High up the walls and in avens, even the walls and avens in the 4 streamway, the start of watergate, all up through blue pencil.  Whatever it is, its spreading really fast.

 

[Peter Burgess]

Went to 4 last night, smell still there - but most shockingly the white stuff is absolutely EVERYWHERE.  High up the walls and in avens, even the walls and avens in the 4 streamway, the start of watergate, all up through blue pencil.  Whatever it is, its spreading really fast.

White stuff? Like a coating of white dust? We had something like this a few years back in a Surrey site. There had been a spill of heating oil, and after a while this white dusting appeared. Both the smell and the white stuff have gone now. It wasn't only on the floor, but the walls and roof as well. We never worked out what it was but it was clearly connected with the oil. I think it is biological and won't hang about if our experience is anything to go by. This may point you to what the smell was.

 

[caving_fox]

White stuff? Like a coating of white dust?

Yeah. There's a musty smell associated with it, mould like. But the actual 'stuff' is not furry it's descete spots, more like salt crystals than mould. You can see how it's spread back over areas where a bootprint had cleared it.

 

[Peter Burgess]

Like this?

 

[caving_fox]

Yes.

 

[Peter Burgess]

That was a case of domestic heating oil leaking into the ground. It ran along the floor, but the white stuff went everywhere. There is no sign of it now.

 

[Peter Burgess]

It is a simple thing to check the locations reported above with an overlay of the survey on a map of the area. My guess is that someone has had a heating oil leak in the village. It might have been quite expensive, what with the price of fuel these days. If it was biodegradable oil (bio fuel) then that would explain the white growth.