The new millennium may well have opened with optimism for many in Ireland but for three Cork communities, the arrival of 2000 was greeted with trepidation as they faced the prospect of becoming home to the county's £20 million dump.
For the people of Grenagh, Bottlehill and Watergrasshill, the last year of the last century took an ominous turn in October when they were informed by Cork County Council that they had been selected as three possible sites for the landfill facility.
The news was broken at a press conference at County Hall where the county manager, Mr Maurice Moloney, outlined just what the council would require over the next 20 years to cater for its domestic, commercial and industrial waste.
Also on hand was Mr Eamon Waldron of P.J. Tobin & Co, consulting engineers, who explained the council's strategy in selecting three possibly suitable sites from among the 44 locations offered following advertisements.
Waste generation in the Cork region annually amounts to about 300,000 tonnes of domestic, commercial and non-hazardous industrial materials but about 37 per cent of this is biodegradable and a further 13-14 per cent is recyclable.
Under the 1995 Cork Region Waste Management Strategy, this 300,000 tonnes of waste will be halved through separating the biodegradable and recyclable materials, leaving the remaining 150,000 for disposal in a central landfill site.
Separation of the organic biodegradable and recyclable materials will take place at a materials separation recovery facility, most likely to be located on the site of the existing Cork Corporation landfill at the Kinsale Road in Cork city.
This facility will continue to operate following the closure of the dump and will process all waste from both the city and county before forwarding the estimated 150,000 tonnes of domestic, commercial and industrial waste to the chosen landfill site.
The landfill site will cover 100 hectares, or 250 acres, with much of the site being given over to creating a buffer zone with adjoining land, while the actual landfill will be lined and capped to prevent leachate being washed into the soil below.
According to Mr Eamon Waldron, the Grenagh site at Lyradane is 182 hectares, the Bottle Hill site covers 800 hectares, while the Watergrasshill site at Kearney's Cross covers 240 hectares. All three are owned by Coillte.
The council is currently carrying out more detailed examinations of each site with a view to choosing one by April, completing an Environmental Impact Statement by August with a start-up date for the chosen site of November 2001.
Cork County Council moved quickly to try and avoid the sort of dump confrontations seen elsewhere. It announced it was setting up a special consultative forum to allow communities express concerns. However, the opposition from the three communities was adamant and instant, with all three holding public meetings which galvanised support into three coherent and organised campaigns.
In Grenagh, some 400 people attended the first public meeting and opposition has grown following visits to the site, which is just over a mile from Grenagh village. As Grenagh District Anti-Dump Action Group PRO Father Liam Kelleher explains: "Grenagh is a growing area. There are currently 80 houses being built with more in the pipeline in the village, which is just half a mile from the site cross-country, so locating the dump here is going to lead to massive depreciation of farms and houses." The group also says that aside from the amenity value of the woods at Lyradane, which are home to an abundance of wildlife, the site is also the source of several streams which become or supply the Martin, Shournagh and Clyda Rivers.
"Health is obviously a huge concern. The obnoxious smells and pollution into the water supplies in the surrounding area would be a recipe for disaster, while the area would also be overrun with scavenging birds, vermin and insects." While the community is angry with the council, it is also angry with Coillte for offering the site, particularly as locals played a major part in helping fight a fire at Lyradane some years ago which threatened to destroy the wood, he added.
The arguments made by the people of Watergrasshill are similar, with the joint PRO of Watergrasshill and District Environmental Alliance, Mr Barry Curtin, echoing many of Father Kelleher's sentiments. According to Mr Curtin, the proposed site is just a mile from Watergrasshill village which is set to mushroom with zoning for 500 houses. This was welcomed by the community, who feared the village might die when the proposed bypass went ahead.
"As well as that, the actual site is in a mixed wood with a combination of coniferous and deciduous trees which the council encouraged us to develop as an amenity area back in the draft county development plan in 1995." As with Grenagh, there are fears about the effect that locating the landfill will have on water supplies, as two tributaries of the Owenacurra, which supplies Midleton, rise in the area.
"The place is a natural aquifer with two tributaries of the Owenacurra river and a big pond covering two acres and none of those is shown on the Ordnance Survey maps accompanying the preliminary site report by Tobins. That seems extraordinary."
According to Mr Curtin, the radial drainage from the sandstone ridge site means that communities in Bartlemy, Lisgoold, Leamlara, Knockraha, Glamire, Ballincurrig and Carrigtwohill, could all have their water supplies affected by leachate.
"We've research from the EPA in the United States which advised people that landfills do leak: there isn't a landfill in the world that doesn't leak and that's a huge concern for us," he said.
While there may be no village in Bottlehill, as there is in Grenagh and Watergrasshill, the residents of Mourneabbey and the adjoining parishes of Carrignavar and Glenville are equally opposed to the site being located in their area.
According to Mr John O'Riordan of Bottlehill Anti-Dump Alliance, the council appears to have ignored some of its own site selection criteria, particularly in relation to the hydrology of the area. "We feel the fact that there is a major aquifer in Bottlehill hasn't been adequately covered by the consultants in their preliminary site selection report, although it recognises it is the source of the Glashaboy, Clyda and Bride rivers.
"The council say the material they are using to seal the site is guaranteed for 30 years but we have a report from the US which shows that 40 per cent of seals break in that period and with so much water rising there, that's obviously a huge concern.
"Our other major concern is that we're 1,000 feet above sea level and a Met Eireann station at Ballymakeera, which is at the same height, gets 75 inches of rain each year, so there's going to be a huge amount of rain falling on a 250-acre dump site.
"Now in Bottlehill, the rock is just two to five metres below the surface so they're going to have to build up the cells 50-60 feet above ground level which is going to make them even more exposed to rain and the risk of contamination.
"We can't see how the council can ensure that all the rain falling on a 250-acre site is going to run off- the risk of leachate leaking out is very real - the dump is proposed to operate for 25 years but the leachate will remain forever." Each of the three groups has expressed sympathy for the other two communities - Mr O'Riordan points out that both Grenagh and Watergrasshill are elevated and experience high rainfall - and they all suggest a rethink by the council.
"A landfill site serving the 430,000 people of Cork city and county shouldn't be visited on any one community," says Mr O'Riordan. "There is an argument for a series of smaller landfill sites, though the council will argue for economies of scale." Mr Curtin argues that there are better models of refuse disposal available and points out that in Holland, only 4 per cent of waste goes into landfill, with a far greater emphasis placed on recycling.
"Cork County Council is still basically looking at a hole in the ground as a means of disposing of rubbish but there've been a lot of developments in waste disposal, particularly in the area of incineration, since the council's waste plan in 1995."
A Cork County Council spokesman said in response to the communities' criticisms that the forum set up by the council - which includes representatives from the communities - would offer them the opportunity to have their concerns addressed.
And he pointed out that the council has proposed to have a consultant appointed to the forum - who would be independent of the council - and who would advise the communities on any matter they felt should be investigated.
"This consultant - who will be exclusively at the disposal of the communities - will also evaluate the findings of the site selection work to date and all future works or report issued by the council or its consultants," he said.
The actual funding of the consultant has yet to be agreed with the parties but an interim offer relating to recouping the administrative costs has already been put to the communities, added the council spokesman.
A meeting of the forum, which includes representatives of the communities as well as local politicians, representatives of industry, agricultural, tourism and environmental groups, takes place today at the Kingsley Hotel in Cork.
