Mobuoy toxins reaching Faughan

The now notorious Mobuoy superdump on the outskirts of Derry City covers an area of 115 acres, the equivalent of 87 soccer pitches.

Bounded to the west by the River Faughan, a designated Area of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, Mobuoy superdump is estimated to contain one million tonnes of illegal, secretly dumped waste.

It was recently the subject of ‘Buried’ a BBC Radio 4 podcast series in which journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor investigated what they described as “one of the worst environmental crimes in UK history”.

In an extensive interview with today’s Derry Now, local eco-activists, Mary McGuiggan of Zero Waste North West, and Dean Blackwood of Faughan Anglers, discussed the extensive work carried out by the umbrella environmental organisation The Gathering in relation to Mobuoy.

According to Dean, Mobuoy was a dump of illegal waste, of unprecedented proportions.

The known extent of the Mobuoy superdump.

“We don’t know exactly what is in there,” he added, “and all of the time it is breaking down and as it breaks down, it is producing different chemical reactions and toxins.

“We don't know the moment when some of that could either leach into the river or into the air and cause some serious health conditions or poisoning. It is the uncertainty of it all and the length of time it is taking to resolve that certainly worries us in terms of the impact on the river for the fish and whatever else because we do not know if the water is safe.

“At least we know the water we drink is being treated, so it is maybe safer than the water the animals and the birds are having to drink and swim in.

“It is just the lethargy behind the whole remediation process that causes us the big difficulty,” said Dean.

Dean, Mary and Eamonn McCann, representing the rail lobby group Into the West, came together seven years ago to keep the issue of Mobuoy superdump in the public eye. Prior to that they had been attending ‘stakeholders meetings’ with the relevant council and departmental officials.

Dean said: “Our biggest concern was that, whilst the Members of the Assembly seemed to be taking Mobuoy seriously, voting pretty much unanimously in 2014 for a public inquiry, that then languished for years with a dysfunctional Executive.

“It created the impression the Executive did not want to have Mobuoy investigated at all. That was borne out by the fact the Executive stymied the whole process and subsequently, in around 2020, Edwin Poots, who was the then Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, took the decision there would not be a public inquiry.

“He took that decision on the basis that all of the problems raised at the time were being addressed through improvements being carried out by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

“We do not see any evidence that is actually the case. We have always been concerned there is a real reluctance within official channels to help ensure Mobuoy was properly investigated,” said Dean.

Two years ago, The Gathering was approached about two years ago by investigative journalists, Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor of Smoke Trail Productions.

Mary said The Gathering collaborated with Smoke Trail because of frustration at the failure of politicians at ministerial level and officialdom within the relevant departments to address the superdump issue.

Mobuoy superdump was the subject of ‘Buried’ a BBC Radio 4 podcast series.

“We worked closely with Dan and Lucy to highlight the seriousness of the problem,” said Mary, “and, more positively, to show how it has given rise to a real, collective community organisation, which has grown in strength since we first set up in 2017.

“And it has become quite a powerful force in shaping policy and decision making within environmental and planning regulation.

“This is borne out by the fact that early last year, in its inquiry into planning in Northern Ireland, the Public Accounts Committee took the very unusual step of inviting The Gathering to an evidence session.

“There are probably two stories here. The first is the terrible impending environmental disaster we are facing if Mobuoy is not addressed properly and we are seriously concerned it is not being because of the length of time it has taken for the trial and the remediation and the poor engagement, at times, by the authorities.

“But, on the more positive note, there is the fact that when communities get together and highlight these issues, they can then bring them to the fore,” said Mary.

According to Dean, two of the parties involved in the Mobuoy superdump have pleaded guilty and are now due for sentencing.

He added: “The Public Prosecution Service left the charges facing the other accused parties on the books. It is not going to take any action unless further evidence emerges at a later date.

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“In the case of the defendants who plead guilty, the judge wanted to know the full likely environmental impacts of what had gone on at Mobuoy. From that perspective, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has submitted an environmental impact statement, which is currently being considered by the defendants.

“We in The Gathering also submitted an environmental impact statement. However, we did not submit it on our own behalf, we submitted it on behalf of the River Faughan, based on the concept of the Rights of Nature, how we go forward embracing nature, giving nature a voice and recognising it as an entity in itself.

“The Courts may not know how to deal with this but we really need to be considering granting rights to our rivers and forests if we are going to protect them in the future,” said Dean.

Mary said one of the great strengths of The Gathering was it comprised six or seven groups including one examining the Rights of Nature.

“We are interested in what the Rights of Nature means and how we can work together to make this happen, throughout the whole island. We are also looking at the issues around health.

“Our next Gathering is happening in Eglinton on Saturday, February 25. It is our fifteenth in five and a half years. We are going to use Eglinton as a community in terms of what it is doing around sustainability, community resilience and flooding.”

Mary and Dean have been attending DAERA ‘remediation’ meetings regarding the Mobuoy superdump for nearly nine years.

Mary reflected: “At the minute, I am not really sure if we are any further forward. The first meeting was held in the Council offices when everybody was present: Roads Service, Council Officers, Northern Ireland Water, Loughs’ Agency, and some stakeholders.

“After that the meetings were held in the Guildhall, on a Wednesday morning, every so often, when we chased them up. They never made it public. It was only those of us who were in the know who were ever invited.

“We were constantly asking for meetings, in the evening time, so we could alert people in Drumahoe, Strathfoyle, Eglinton to what was going on. That never happened. On one occasion, maybe five years ago, they had a meeting in Strathfoyle and one in Drumahoe and then covid hit and then they went online.

“I left two years ago because I felt I was being used as a scapegoat. I felt I was the only voice they needed there because if I was not there they could not have the meeting. Sadly, I feel we have not moved forward in terms of remediation at all, from where we were five years ago,” said Mary.

Dean recalled “limited” remediation was carried out on Mobuoy superdump when it was first discovered.

He said: “At that time the highly toxic leachate was taken away.

“The Department claims it only discovered the illegal dumping in 2012. Clearly there were a lot of missed opportunities because we in Faughan Anglers raised it with the Loughs’ Agency in 2008.

“Loughs’ Agency wrote to the Department in 2008 to say it had met with Faughan Anglers and we had expressed concerns that waste was being shredded and dumped outside where it should have been contained.

“Loughs’ Agency did not get a response so it wrote again in June 2009. DAERA maintained it never got either of those letters. We found this concerning. There were other warnings also, which were set out very clearly in the Mills Review published in 2013. Mills identified a lot of missed opportunities.

“Between 2012 and 2015, DAERA carried out some remediation on Mobuoy. It dug trenches around it to capture any pollution. It has a sump, a deep lined pool of where all this toxic material is going,” said Dean.

“Since then there has been very little remediation other than reactive,” said Dean. “In 2017 when the Faughan burst its banks into the dump, DAERA had to go back in and repair the bank,” added Dean.

“DAERA would say it is constant monitoring of Mobuoy and we have to take its word for that, in that it is regularly monitoring the water quality.

Mobuoy superdump.

“However, information that came out quite recently in a publication from DAERA was that the modelling it was doing was now suggesting toxins from Mobuoy were reaching the Faughan at levels which were beyond what the safe water qualities would demand.

“But they are saying because there is so much water in the river, it will be diluted, to a ‘safe’ level. The problem is, none of us are scientists. We have to take their word for this but, it should be ringing alarm bells that some of these substances are now reaching the river at levels beyond what are considered ‘safe’.

“The full extent of what is contained in Mobuoy has never not been scoped out. A lot of it was coming from councils, before local government reform in 2015. There was also talk about medical waste and talk about asbestos raised in the Spotlight programme,” said Dean.

Following the broadcast of ‘Buried’, Eamonn O’Donnell of Enagh Youth Forum said a public inquiry into Mobuoy was essential.
He added: “How dare the Government think it can keep burying the truth about Mobuoy.

“Society here needs to know the truth. Society here needs and demands a public inquiry. Only then will people know the truth. Only then will the real lessons be learned. Only then will we have justice for Mobuoy."