Former landfill in Cork is leaking
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)is working with the local authority to rectify the issue.
The landfill, at Raffeen, near Monkstown, was operated between 1979 and 2001, and, according to the county council, only accepted non-hazardous waste.
It was not until May, 2001 that the council was granted a waste licence for the site, by the EPA, and the council claims it ceased to allow waste to be buried there five months later.
Afterwards, the local authority agreed to continually monitor the landfill, in accordance with the waste licence.
Between 2005 and 2007, it installed protective lining, put in gas-abstraction equipment and liquid-extraction systems, and landscaped the area.
The council then turned the site into a civic amenity centre, accepting recycling waste.
On January 8 last, council officials received a report from a member of the public that reddish-brown liquid, with an iron content, was pouring out of a slope on the south-eastern corner of the site.
The EPA was, in turn, then notified by the council of the leak, which was running across an adjoining public road and into a drain.
A report delivered to councillors who represent the area said that it was likely that extreme rainfall over the preceding two months was responsible for causing the leak.
The area had rainfall levels at 116% and 302% above normal averages between 1981 and 2010 and council officials believe this was a key factor in the liquid escape.
The report said that monitoring was conducted on January 8 at three locations on the site and, following clearance of scrub, further samples were taken by council officials on January 20, and again in February.
After discussions with the EPA, the council altered its pumping procedures to concentrate on the area where the liquid breakout was occurring.
Measures were also put in place to ensure a contractor was engaged to remove excess liquid from the site, on a regular basis.
Council officials said they had given ‘priority status’ to this measure.
In the meantime, the council also employed another contractor to add more protective lining to the site and to clean out pipes to stop liquid waste from seeping across the road.
The combined measures stopped the leak.
Enda Kiernan, executive engineer with the council’s environment directorate, reported that a proposal to wash down the road had been received from a suitably qualified local contractor.
A temporary traffic-management plan is being prepared by that contractor, to be agreed with council officials in advance, before these works will commence.
He also said that the council was preparing a report for the Environmental Protection Agency on the likely causes, and that all remedial measures have been taken by the local authority to ensure there are no further seepages.
