More than 100 old waste burials in England, which may be contaminated with toxic substances, have been overwhelmed by water since 2000, which may pose serious safety risk, which can be detected.
Some of these previous dumps that contain dangerous materials may be found next to public parks and housing property with hundreds of families, and the analysis conducted by the press funded by Greenpeace was discovered, in partnership with The Guardian.
Although the councils are supposed to follow the dangers of these sites, the financing has long disappeared and some local authorities had no idea that they were responsible.
David Megson, an environmental chemist from Manchester Metropolitan UniversityMost of the previous landfill sites said, “It is possible that it is completely safe and contains relatively inactive waste, but some may be completely evil.”
He said: “The historical report of what happened in these sites was not great, so in many cases, you do not have a little idea of what is there until you dig.”
The investigation took data on 20,000 of the previous landfill sites in England to determine the most high-risk-that used to empty “private” or industrial waste, for example, which were used after 1945 and before the mid-1990s, when laws on retaining records appeared on the contents of waste sites.
Then this was compared to Environment Agency Flood data, with the help of Dr. Paul Brendley, a mapping expert at the University of Sheffield, to find waste burials where more than 50 % of the surface area was flooded.
Any dumps that only contain home waste, or those known as safe or where controls have already been removed from data, leaving only those that may contain dangerous substances, including drugs, “chemicals forever”, heavy metals or “liquid sludge” – which can be Anything from sewage to cyanide waste.
A total of 105 sites were identified, which were not proportional to the poor areas and in northern England.
“They have never thought of the consequences,” said Professor Kate Spencer, an expert in the historic landfill from Queen Mary University in London, who helped the investigation.
“We now know more about the potential harmful effects of waste materials and pollutants we have given, especially chemicals such as PFAs and PCBS, and how climate change effects, such as floods, can reopen the paths of these pollutants to enter the environment.”
The investigation also found that 2,600 previously empty sites with possible contents were 50 meters from waterways.
“Everywhere you look at it, the pollutants can find gaps that can be easily accessible in the system of enforcement of the law breaking and the deterioration of the environment. However, the failure to provide appropriate financing to organize something like a waste sites that can wear very dangerous waste,” said Charles Watson, head and founder of the River Campaign Group.
“If our organizations are not able to resolve how to protect us from pollutants that were theory, they have already been disposed of, we will not have great hope in seeing a comprehensive approach to combating the sources of wider water pollution.”
Until 2017, councils can apply for contaminated capital grants, which were run by the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to treat contaminated lands. “There has been” financing erosion. “
“If there is no clear risk of harm or pollution emitted from these sites, nothing will be done to investigate or treat them unless the sites are developed. This means that there are likely to be hundreds or most likely thousands of sites that have not been properly investigated and that can be contaminated at the harmful levels in the environment.”
The Local Government Association warned, the Local Government Association warned of a broader financing gap for councils of up to 8 billion pounds by 2028 to 2028 to 2028 to 2028 to 2028-29, that the lack of financing in areas such 2028-29. A spokesman for the local authorities said “in urgent need of a significant and sustainable increase” in the budgets to keep pace with the demands that were placed on them.
Green peers Natalie Bennett“The lack of adequate regulations on polluted lands poses a threat to human life and luxury, especially given the collapse of climate, high sea levels and floods,” said the party that supports a law that requires better records of sites so that they do not pose a general danger.
“The vegetables urge to work to add this law to the basic system books and provide the necessary funds for the local authorities to meet the requirements of such a new law.”
The Environment Agency said it would “continue support” by local authorities through their responsibility for dealing with previous waste burials. He added: “In the circumstances in which the Environment Agency leads to treatment, we work tirelessly with partners to reduce the unacceptable risks to human health and the environment.”
