EU ruling may force clean-up of landfill sites

THE Government will be forced to clean up abandoned landfill sites around the country that are leaking into the groundwater and polluting it or face massive fines following a ruling from the European Court of Justice.

EU members are supposed to ensure that dangerous substances do not leak from waste and contaminate the groundwater from which most of the country’s drinking water comes.

But the court found that the Ballymurtagh landfill site in Co Wicklow has been leaching into the groundwater and the river Avoca nearby. The poisonous substances include mercury and cadmium from old batteries, which is cancer-causing This would not have happened had the site been properly lined but the authorities decided against this at the time on the basis that the river was already poisoned by heavy metals from a nearby disused mine.