Mobuoy dump: Council seeks answers on drinking water impact

Derry City and Strabane District Council will request NI Water answer questions about the Mobuoy dump's impact on drinking water following recent revelations.

The motion to Invite NI Water to present to Council on the issue was brought by Councillor Shaun Harkin and was unanimously approved last wednesday, 28 June.

Cllr Harkin said recent reports have brought light to ongoing issues at Europe's biggest illegal dump.

“The amount of waste that has been identified there has increased by 40 per cent, which is extremely alarming given how long it’s taken to do any real remediation there,” the People Before Profit councillor said.

“There is leaking out of the dump and what we've been told up to now is that there is highly pollutant material inside the dump, that there's leaking out but it's not impacting our water supply.

“I think the worry is that there's more waste that's been found to be in there. The fact that it has taken so long for remediation to really begin means that we have to be alert to the danger of groundwater impacting our drinking water.”

Last month it was revealed that specialists brought in by Stormont now estimate that there is 1.6 million tonnes of waste at the dump - 40% more than the previous upper estimate.

Alderman Ryan McCready supported the motion and said he wants to know what NI Water are searching for when they do their tests.

“What is NI Water testing for? This is really important,” The UUP councillor said.

“If I go to the beach with a bucket, I scoop out water and I look in the bucket and I see there's no sharks and my presumption is: well there's no sharks in the entire ocean. I use that analogy not to be flippant but to simplify what my perception is of what is being shown to us. It's not a full and accurate breakdown.

“I want a complete graph from when they started testing on the the frequency of testing and any spikes in that testing because at the moment when I read some of the comments they're are coming out that there's no risk, yet in another contradictory paragraph they're saying we need another £12 million to protect the water source going forward.”

He said many locals have a 'keen interest' in seeing this issue resolved and added that it is a statutory obligation to assure clean drinking water.

SDLP Councillor Declan Norris said while it's important to know more about the potential pollutants it's crucial to set a plan in motion to get rid of the dump.

“The big thing here is – of course we need to know what's in there - but we need to get the stuff out. That's the main priority.

“This will be inter-departmental as well and that doesn't seem to be happening. We go to all the meetings we keep hearing 'we're moving forward'. We're not at that stage and for the people of Eglinton, Strathfoyle, Campsie, all those areas it's a big, big issue.”