Agenda item

To consider the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Des Guckian;

"I’m asking CEO, Mr Power, to give us all an undertaking, with proof, that there is no need to worry about emissions from the old unlined dump in Mohill, closed since 2005. The EPA Report 2019 suggests that there are several shortcomings, which is worrying since the dump has a direct hydrological link to Lough Forbes."

Report by Head of Finance & Water Services

"The EPA granted Leitrim County Council a Waste Licence for the closure, restoration, and aftercare of Mohill Landfill in January 2002.

The EPA Waste Licence for Mohill Landfill provided the structure for the restoration and aftercare works required by the EPA.  

Leitrim County Council prepared the designs and Method Statements for the restoration works in accordance with the Waste Licence and EPA Code of Practice.  These designs were approved by the EPA prior to commencement of works.  The design included for an engineered piped leachate collection system around the landfill which is connected to the Knocklongford wastewater pump station from where the leachate is pumped forward for treatment at Mohill wastewater treatment plant.

This EPA Waste Licence for Mohill Landfill also requires that Leitrim County Council carry out an extensive suite of biological and physico-chemical monitoring and analysis on a monthly/quarterly basis. The licence sets emission limit values for these parameters. All emissions from the Landfill continue to be monitored in accordance with the EPA Waste Licence. It is a condition of the licence that all monitoring results are reported, and an Annual Environmental Report (AER) is submitted each year.  This AER is a summary report of the environmental information for a given year.

The AER for 2019 which Cllr Guckian is querying does show that there was an exceedance in the storm water for COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), Total Phosphorous and Iron in the samples analysed. The storm water is monitored at 2 (two) locations identified in the EPA Licence as SW4 (upstream of the landfill) and SW6 (downstream of the Landfill); and the exceedances were detected in both the upstream and the downstream samples on the day at the time of sampling. If the Landfill were the source of the exceedance, then the exceedance would only have been detected in the downstream sample (SW6) and not in the upstream sample (SW4) as well. The results indicate that the source of this exceedance must be located further upstream of Mohill Landfill, the exceedances in both samples were classified as marginal. 

Also, the AER for 2019 shows that there was 1 (one) exceedance in the groundwater sample for Ammonia, Chloride, Iron, Manganese and Potassium. The groundwater is monitored in 4 (four) locations identified by the EPA Waste Licence around the perimeter of Mohill Landfill; the exceedance was detected in 1 (one) of the samples on the day at the time of sampling. The other 3 (three) groundwater samples taken at the same time were within the limits. The AER states that the “Sample exceeded Interim Guide Values for the protection of groundwater in Ireland”.  The term Interim Guide Value (IGV) represents typical background conditions and higher than IGV can occur naturally depending on the local geology/hydrogeology. For example, the Ammonia level in the sample was 0.261mg/l which is slightly elevated when compared to the Interim Guide Value (IGV) for Ammonia which is 0.15mg/l. This exceedance is classified as marginal and is not considered significant.

Since the closure of this landfill and based on the monitoring results and reducing levels of emissions from the landfill over the intervening years, the EPA did agree to reduce the monitoring frequency for both stormwater and groundwater in the Waste Licence for Mohill Landfill.  They did so, based on the reducing risk to the environment from this landfill.

There has been no major exceedance of the Licence limits at this landfill which has been identified by the EPA or Leitrim County Council. The EPA as the Licencing Authority has not issued any notification or improvement notice on breach of Licence conditions in relation to emissions from Mohill Landfill.

The upstream and downstream stormwater samples taken in the Rinn_010 River indicates that the Ammonia is likely coming from other sources. The Catchment Assessment Scientists of the Local Authorities Waters Programme (LAWPRO) will be carrying out more detailed investigations on the Rinn_010 River."

Councillor Des Guckian said he was not happy with the reply received to his motion and he expressed concerns with the 2019 EPA Report, as it suggests that there are several shortcomings, which is worrying since the dump has a direct hydrological link to Lough Forbes.  Councillor Guckian said after a very heavy downfall of rain he witnessed brown water in the river which flows alongside the landfill site and he said this is because of the landfill and it is not compliant.

Councillor Thomas Mulligan welcomed the response given to the motion. Councillor Mulligan said that Cllr. Guckian suggesting that the brown water in the river, as it flows through the town, is because of the former dump is a crazy statement. Councillor Thomas Mulligan outlined the water is brown because it is coming from Aughrim bog.

Councillor Thomas Mulligan said he expected that the extensive suite of water quality monitoring and analysis that is carried out on a monthly/quarterly basis will be carried out on an on-going basis into the future.

Councillor Sean McGowan said if a river rises in a bog and there is a high level of rainfall, the water in that river will be brown.

Mr Francis Gaffney, A/Senior Engineer gave the members a detailed update in relation to the works carried out on the Mohill Landfill site, the leachate collection and methane monitoring at the site   and the extensive water quality sampling that is carried out the river. He gave a thorough explanation of the response given to the motion.

Mr Gaffney said the Catchment Assessment Scientists of the Local Authorities Waters Programme (LAWPRO) will be carrying out more detailed investigations on the river.

Mr Gaffney said this Landfill is properly remediated and is monitored for Leitrim County Council by third party consultants whose reports are assessed by the EPA.

Mr Gaffney said that additional resources will be allocated to water quality monitoring in this area for the next few months.

Councillor Guckian said this dump was operational from 1965 to 2005 with tonnes of waste dumped here.  Councillor Guckian said he could not imagine that the leachate collection system could be completely safe. Councillor Des Guckian said it was not satisfactory that Leitrim County Council is both monitoring and reporting on this.  Councillor Des Guckian welcomed that scientific staff will be carrying out further investigations on this river.

Mr Gaffney confirmed that Leitrim County Council employ consultants to carry out the monitoring and reporting to the EPA.  

Mr Joseph Gilhooly thanked Mr Francis Gaffney for his very comprehensive report and advised that the scientific information available are the facts as presented. He reiterated the point that Leitrim County Council are not monitoring and evaluating ourselves, but as outlined by Mr. Francis Gaffney, that Leitrim County Council engage external consultants to monitor and report on our behalf to the EPA. 

Mr Joseph Gilhooly said the standards referred to in the report are to the same standards applied to any environment works that Leitrim County Council carry out.

Councillor Thomas Mulligan said he looked forward to the continued monitoring of the site.

Councillor Des Guckian noted that he was not happy that the Mohill river was described as stagnant in the Mohill Public Realm Works proposal.