Toxic asbestos found in old dump at Bray’s North Strand
ASBESTOS and other chemicals are coming from a municipal landfill on to the north beach, according to a report prepared for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
The dump contains more than 104,000 cubic metres of waste, including broken asbestos tiles, and features excessive levels of ammoniacal nitrogen, potassium and manganese.
Due to coastal erosion, the dump is exposed with materials being washed onto the beach and into the sea.
Minister for Climate Change and Environment Denis Naughten told Deputy John Brady in the Dáil recently that a management plan to contain the waste is being drawn up. The EPA said that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown has been communicating with them.
Dangerous chemicals, including asbestos, have been identified at the old dump at Bray’s north strand.
Waste from the old municipal landfill formerly operated by Bray Urban District Council is being continually exposed as it is being washed into the Irish Sea at Bray.
In a report by environmental consultants Fehily Timoney for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, it was found that the dump contains more than 104,000 cubic metres of waste, including broken asbestos tiles, and features excessive levels of ammoniacal nitrogen, potassium and manganese.
The landfill was once the main dump for the town of Bray, but it is on the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown side of the border and on privately owned land.
The dump was closed in the late 1980s and sealed with topsoil.
In September 2005, the environmental group Coastwatch raised concerns that coastal erosion was causing the dump to fall into the sea.
Wicklow County Council estimated at that time that the volume of waste was 48,000 cubic metres.
About 200m of the face of the tip has been exposed by the weather. Waste is coming onto the beach and being swept into the sea.
Asbestos, rusted metal, heavy plastics, bricks and bags can be seen at the foot of eroded cliffs. A Bray student identified problems with the bray dump as early as 1993.
Minister for Climate Change and Environment Denis Naughten told Deputy John Brady in the Dáil recently that a management plan to contain the waste is being drawn up.
Deputy Brady said that he called for an environmental report in 2005. ‘ The actual volume of waste is now expected to contain twice as much as was thought in the 2005 report,’ said Deputy Brady.
He said that the new report had been car- ried out on behalf of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA told Deputy Brady in a letter that they have asked Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown for an update on the implementation recommendations contained in the report and a timeframe.
They asked that such information be furnished by the end of February.
The EPA said that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown has been in close communication on the matter.