Residents warned landfill odour likely to worsen in new year

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Residents who have fought a 20-year campaign to close a landfill quarry in north Wales have now been warned odour problems are likely to worsen in the new year.

A joint statement by the Hafod Landfill Stakeholder Group – which is made up of senior representatives from site operators Enovert, Rhos Community Council, Ruabon Community Council, Wrexham County Borough Council and environmental license enforcement agency Natural Resources Wales (NRW) met to discuss the site in Johnstown.

For two decades residents in nearby communities have been complaining about nuisance odours from the site – caused by hydrogen sulphide leaching out of the landfill – at levels which have caused headaches, nausea and dizziness.

Now a joint statement has been published – almost a month after the group met – revealing that the odour issue could get worse when Enovert begin drilling new gas wells in the new year.

Hafod captures gas released by landfill and turns it into energy.

“Further scheduled works onsite in the New Year, specifically proposed drilling of new gas wells, may lead to a higher than usual risk of odour from these works,” said the statement.

“Enovert will provide notice of the works in advance and will use all appropriate measure to control the drilling activities.”

The revelation sparked anger among campaigners with Steve Gittins – who led a submission to the Senedd’s Petitions Committee on the issue – asking how much longer the situation would go on.

“After 20 years of suffering, how much more are we expected to tolerate,” he said.

“The latest announcement that drilling new gas wells at Hafod may cause “a higher-than-usual risk of odour” has landed like an insult to a community already forced to endure decades of disruption, distress and deteriorating air quality.”

Capping works

The Hafod Stakeholder Group statement went on to state that recent capping works – the sealing of areas of waste – by Enovert were designed to minimise odour from its operations.

A new gas engine was being installed in the coming weeks which would run continuously collecting gas and turning it into energy 24 hours a day.

The statement also claimed that recent data collected by newly recalibrated monitoring stations showed the amount of hydrogen sulphide in the local atmosphere – which is measured in parts per billion (ppb) – was significantly reduced and not at a nuisance level.

“The AQ Mesh pods have now been calibrated by the manufacturer,” said the group.

“The results will be updated and presented within the next summary report, which will be placed on Natural Resources Wales Citizen Space. The scaled results indicate that around 90% of the data from all of the pods (on-site and off-site) is typically less than 5ppb with the average value less than 1ppb.”

Levels of 1ppb can give off a nuisance odour, levels of 5ppb cause physical symptoms like headaches and nausea.

Data presented to the Senedd by Mr Gittins – and supplied by Enovert and Wrexham Council – showed between 63% and 66% of hydrogen sulphide levels at one part per billion (ppb) in the air while between 34% and 39% had levels over 5ppb in the areas around the site.

Hydrogen sulphide

The joint statement also indicated there may be other sites in the area producing hydrogen sulphide.

“The report highlights that hydrogen sulphide is being detected from a range of compass directions, indicating that there are potentially multiple sources of hydrogen sulphide in the site’s locality.”

One site the group identified as a source was Vauxhall Industrial Estate – where action was taken to eliminate the odour.

But Mr Gittins remained sceptical.

“Why weren’t the devices calibrated correctly in the first place,” he said. ” “Why were residents reassured on the basis of data that now Enovert claims doesn’t count?

“This is not transparency. This is not accountability. And it does not reflect the seriousness of a problem residents have been reporting for 20 years.”

Mr Gittins was himself the target of accusations that his data – or his interpretation of it – was inaccurate recently when Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Strategic Planning and Public Protection, Cllr Hugh Jones reacted to the evidence he presented to Senedd members.

“Any suggestion by Mr Gittins that the Hafod site should be shut down is wholly misleading and based on flawed interpretation of data. The fact is that the recorded data is well below any threshold requiring such action,” said the statement.

Evidence

Seeking to preserve his reputation, Mr Gittins submitted his evidence and interpretation to Wrexham Council’s own contamination experts – Geotechnology.

In a letter to Mr Gittins, Ben Rees, Director of Geotechnology, confirmed that his interpretation of the data was correct.

“The maths is correct – i.e 34% of the data was at or above 5ppb,” he wrote. “Diffusion tubes provide an indication of the average concentration over the exposure period. The tubes cannot, however, provide any information on short-term changes or spikes in the concentration of hydrogen sulphide.”

He added that where measurements of 5ppb were given they were workplace exposure limits – meaning people were safe from exposure on-site for a period of 15 minutes.

“As the landfill is an area where people work, the workplace exposure limits are referenced. These limits are to help the reader place some of the data into context.”

Mr Gittins said now was the time for action.

“It is so frustrating to observe the apparent lack of urgency or decisive action from the Public Protection Office (PPO) regarding the continued fight for clean air in Johnstown and the surrounding areas,” he said.

“The evidence confirming Hafod landfill’s pollution of the air is clearly documented in the Geotechnology report, which Geotechnology has now confirmed to me in writing.

“It’s clear the current system is not working for residents. It’s time for independent, monitoring, real-time transparency and stronger, proactive enforcement.”