Landfill site contaminated

The UK Environment Agency’s remit  for licensing landfill sites is to ‘prevent harm to human health and the environment’. But in respect of pesticides they are failing to do so.

The extent of pesticide use on landfill sites is neither known nor monitored. Site licenses do not stipulate how pest control should be achieved, even when the landfill is near a water-course. And if the operator does pollute a river or stream, he is not liable to prosecution under the Water Resources Act 1991.
    A typical story has emerged at Brynposteg landfill site in Powys, Wales, which is visited by the red kite, a rare bird of prey. The operator has been using chorpyrifos methyl (Smite) an organophosphate (OP) to control flies. This chemical is highly toxic to aquatic life, and its long-term cumulative effects on bird life are not known. 
    Local residents are concerned about the use of this OP within a few hundred metres of their homes. The site operator used to cover the tip daily with inert material, and this was effective in controlling the flies. But with the advent of the Landfill Tax in 1996 a charge is incurred for bringing such supplies to a licensed tip, so they are becoming scarce. Instead the operators are using more sprays. 
    The effects of this practice on human health, and on this site, on that of the red kites, are unknown. No judgement can be made of its impact on groundwater, as it began before the Environment Agency carried out the required Regulation 15 assessment (a baseline measurement) under the Groundwater Directive 80/68. At sites near a watercourse, there is no equivalent requirement under the Water Resources Act 1991. 
    Jan Morrow is the Environment Agency’s Landfill Policy Manager. She admits that the interface between the Agency’s statutory duty to protect the environment with regard to water and landfill sites is poor: “If someone pollutes surface water while they have a waste licence, they are not liable under the Water Resources Act, so it all has to be done through licensing.” She went on: “The objective of licensing is to protect the local and global environment, the local amenity and human health. It is not for the Agency to specify which products should be used to achieve these objectives”.
    Asked by the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] on how many landfill sites chemical pest control is being used, and which products, she replied: “You don’t have a hope of finding out. Pesticides are only mentioned in a licence if pests have been an issue and the operator has had to do something about it”.
    The Agency’s Library Condition Guidance Note for waste management does refer to pesticides as an aspect of risk assessment: “The use of pesticides as a risk management measure should not be at such levels as to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.” But without further technical guidance from the Agency’s Scientific and Technical Working Group, of which Jan Morrow is a member, this stipulation is not being translated into the licences themselves. That there is no prospect of such an initiative is a serious concern.  (AC)

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.45, September 2000, page 16]