Donegal Co Council is facing a €10 million bill for rehabilitation works on several disused landfill sites in order to comply with strict new standards being laid down by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Old dumps near Kilmacrennan, Lifford, Glenalla and Muckish are all in breach of the EPA criteria governing how landfill sites must be treated after closure and the council is now faced with the task of bringing them into line.
It is understood that the cost of the rehabilitation works at the Churchtown (Lifford) site - which is located by the River Finn - could exceed €3 million.
"The EPA will prosecute us if we are not compliant," confirmed Mr Jim Holohan, director of Water, Environment and Emergency Services with the council.
The problem of waste management in the county will be one of the main items on the agenda for local councillors in the new year as they attempt to find the funds to deal with old sites, while at the same time progressing with plans to develop a major new landfill site for the county. Already the council has agreed to raise a loan of €1.7 million to finance the cost of rehabilitating old landfills, but this may be just a fraction of what is required.
The council is also is in a race against time to bring on stream new landfill sites. When the existing landfill near Killybegs shuts in January, Donegal will have just one operational landfill site, at Ballinacarrick, near Donegal Town, and its life-span is also limited. Already its licence has been extended.
At present some refuse collectors are being forced to make a round trip of up to 150 miles to dispose of waste. While some refuse is going into Northern Ireland, the life-span of the dump at Culmore in Derry is limited as well. Although additional resources have been put into recycling projects, illegal dumping has been a significant problem in Donegal and a number of prosecutions are pending.
The council has plans for a new landfill site at Meenabol, between Letterkenny and Fintown, which is the subject of an Environmental Impact Statement, but, according to Mr Holohan, the earliest that this landfill is likely to be operational is 2005.