Website data concern
OFFICIALS have hit back over the picture painted of incinerator pollution in Runcorn and Widnes by the ‘Plume Plotter’ website.
In a joint statement to the Weekly News, Halton Borough Council, Public Health England and the Environment Agency urged members of the public not to rely on the site for an accurate picture of air quality in the borough.
A spokeswoman for the local authority said environmental experts from PHE, the EA and the National Specialist Centre For Radiation, Chemicals And Environmental Hazards (NSCRCEH) had voiced concerns about the credibility of the website, which claims to show the ‘current state of air pollution’ around the Viridoroperated incinerator in Weston Point for energy customer Inovyn.
The experts said the website could be improved is if it described the source of the emissions data, used weather data from a high-quality source such as the Met Office and provided instructions on how to use the tool and how to inter- pret the results.
Last week the Weekly News published details and images of the Plume Plotter maps, which have been created by a computer scientist who said he made no claims to be an expert and would welcome comments on how to improve the webtool but stressed he had used AERMOD software, realtime weather information and maximum emissions incinerator information to create the modelling system.
This week the website creator said Plume Plotter ‘essentially’ uses the same predictions used during the planning application, and that a recent plot using real weather data from last year recorded at Liverpool John Lennon Airport showed an accurate match for Plume Plotter’s own data, adding that the maximum amounts used to model the pollution flows are taken from the Runcorn energy-fromwaste plants environmental statement submitted during the planning process.
He said realtime Met Office weather data costs cash and as Plume Plotter was not funded, he ‘had no intention of paying for weather data’.
He said details of how to use the site are included.
Eileen O’Meara, Halton Council’s director of public health, said: “In our opinion, this website should not be relied on.
“There are too many unknowns in the modelled data that is presented to have any confidence that it is accurate or valid. It would be very easy to misinterpret the data presented on the website, with potentially alarming results.”
An Environment Agency spokesman said: “A heavy metals monitoring station, operated on behalf of the Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (Defra) has been located and operating in Weston Point for many years.
“The monitor has recorded only very low levels and has not indicated any increase that could be attributed to the operation of the energyfrom-waste facility.
“All substances of interest that could be potentially emitted from an operational incinerator were modelled using both the AERMOD and ADMS systems as part of the permit application processes, results have been validated by the agency’s specialist modelling group and indicate that all substances would be within objective levels.” OR CALL