Tipping point... Site near homes is overrun with rats

Shock at rubbish dumped into river

NORTH

FLY-TIPPING at a river in Northern Ireland has hit the “worst” ever level and is overrun with rats.

A scientist, who has spent his career monitoring waterways, was shocked to see the amount of rubbish that had been dumped from a bridge in a North Belfast housing estate.

And the vermin are scurrying around the vast debris with houses and families just 60m away.

The scientist, who shared an image of the scene but did not wish to be named, told the Mirror: “I do a lot of work on rivers in Belfast and Newtownabbey and this is the worst out of them all.

“I have never seen anything that bad – to have that amount of rats running about in the day time was crazy.

“I took the pictures in the Glencairn area on the Forth River, but this isn’t just a problem that’s confined to that area.

“It just seems to be any of the bridges, there is fly-tipping going on.

“It’s only 60 metres away from the nearest block of houses. On upstream in the Ligoniel area, it’s particularly bad too.

“I was looking for access points to take samples. Last year when I was there it was pretty bad, but it wasn’t as bad as this. This is layers thick and there’s everything in it.”

And there are potentially hazardous materials among the debris dumped in the river. The man added: “It’s mostly household waste but there’s also a bit of building waste appliances and an oil tank.

“I was disgusted because upstream there seems to be some really good habitat and then you come to that – which is just disgraceful. They are destroying the beauty of the natural environment on their own doorstep.”

ON SCENE IN BELFAST

DISGRACEFUL Rubbish in Forth River in Glencairn HAZARD Oil tank is among debris

EMISSIONS Growing problem