More About Rubbish

The Dundalk Democrat had another article about the recent increase in dumping around Dundalk. Said Cllr Seamus Keelan (FF), "The dumping is happening all over the town. It is at the back of housing estates and since Cllr Ian Dooley raised the problem of dumping at Moorland Road, more rubbish has been left there, including a bath."

One of the biggest problems with dumping, particularly in association with waterways, is the effect decaying rubbish and leaching chemicals may have on groundwater. In mid-Louth, the Democrat also reported on "Good news for residents near Whiteriver landfill". According to the story the EPA have said that new by-laws must be introduced to stop increasing volumes of biodegradable waste being dumped in landfills. Otherwise heavy EU fines will be incurred. There have been several problems at this particular landfill site at Philipstown - mostly smells, and local worries about contamination of the water supply. Local people have also called for the wells to be tested for contamination by the Louth County Council.

The impact of rubbish on drinking water, and indeed contamination from septic tanks, is a major and growing problem in Ireland

At a talk given by Eanna Ni Lamhna, President of An Taisce, at the Spirit Store recently, Eanna showed on a map the huge area of Ireland that lacks any kind of municipal sewage system, driven by the huge number of one-off houses. The ground-water has been tested in these areas and it has been found that most testing sites were contaminated: "52 per cent of all EPA monitoring locations showed bacteriological contamination at least once between 2003 and 2005, with 30 per cent of all EPA monitoring locations being grossly contaminated at least once during this period."

The main findings of an EPA study on waste management in Ireland, were:

"The overall generation of municipal waste did not increase appreciably in 2007, in contrast to 2006;
Recycling rates generally remained steady with good progress reported in relation to packaging;
The diversion of very large quantities of food waste from landfill is a priority that must be addressed; and
The level of waste reported in 2007, allied with the need for businesses to reduce costs in 2009, reflects the need for continued support for resource conservation initiatives in relation to waste, water and energy, such as the National Waste Prevention Programme."

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop To Drink

The Meath Chronicle carried a story this week about work being done to study flooding risks in the Fingal East Meath area reported to the Council. According to the story, "The main objectives of the Fingal East Meath Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study are to identify and map the existing and potential future flood hazard risk areas within the study area and build the strategic information base necessary for making informed decisions in relation to managing flood risk." The study will identify areas at a high risk of flooding as well as existing flood defense measures. "This survey started in August last year and is almost complete, with 27 kilometres of river channel assets and 10km of coastal assets being surveyed."

Details of the study can be found here. For those interested in past known flooding events, the Office of Public Works has a website here that maps known flooding events, though it should be noted that only "recorded" flooding events are included; remote areas that are flood-prone may not be included.

Much of County Louth is at significant risk of flooding with major past flooding events in Dundalk, Drogheda and much of the coastal areas in between, as well in the Boyne valley and elsewhere. Part of the reason is that much of this land is reclaimed, particularly around Dundalk, Blackrock, Ballymascanlon, Lurgangreen and Mooretown. With global warming driving the possibility of such extreme weather events, the potential for episodes such as the nationwide episode in August 2008.

One of the impacts of flooding events is that they often contaminate drinking water with sewage, so alcohol may be the only choice!

In the meantime the Irish Examiner reports, "The practice of building houses and other concrete structures on flood plains is destroying Ireland’s natural flood defences, according to one of the country’s leading experts on coastal engineering." (see town planners blog for full story)." The story continues, "If you look at the rainfall patterns over the last 20 years, you will find that there has been a marked change. We are now getting severe bursts of rain rather than precipitation being spread out,” said Dr Jimmy Murphy, coastal engineering manager with the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre, University College Cork (UCC)."

More details of the seminar and studies may be found at the UCC web site.