Illegal dump is contaminating Blessington water

The Oireachtas Committee on Environment has heard that a massive illegal dump on lands owned by Roadstone Dublin Ltd is slowly beginning to contaminate water in the Blessington area of Co. Wicklow.

Director general of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Mary Kelly told the committee on Tuesday (July 19) that there was “evidence of contamination beginning to occur in groundwater from the site.”
Dr. Kelly said the contamination was occurring at a “very slow pace” and posed no immediate threat to the water supply.

The EPA has estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes of waste, “mostly construction and demolition waste” has been dumped on the site.
Roadstone Dublin Ltd has consistently denied any knowledge of illegal dumping on the site. The company has applied to the EPA for a licence to develop a landfill on the site to deal with the existing waste.

In a recent preliminary decision, the EPA said it was proposing to refuse the licence.