120 Days of Burning and 20,000 Tons of Ash Later

In the May–June issue of Current Concerns we reported on the ecological disaster the existing policy of FMD carcass disposal has brought to the Epynt area in Wales. Parts of the Epynt are designated Special Areas of Conservation and the rivers Towy and Usk, which have been put at risk of pollution, are Special Sites of Scientific Interest. An update on the situation:

eag. At last the National Assembly has decided to remove the ash from the Epynt burn site which is estimated by them to be 20,000 tons in weight. This seems an immense amount of ash to burn up to 40,000 carcasses of which 7,000 were cattle. Unlike many of the other pyres there was no space created beneath the fire to enable it to draw properly. In consequence the ash contains much unburnt matter including railway sleepers, bits of plastic borehole lining and burial pit lining, coal and, possibly, some carcass remains, certainly bones.

There are five pyres altogether – one of which came from the aborted burial pit. Some of the pyres are still burning and in order to cool these down for removal they are being spread out and sprayed with water drawn from surrounding streams. The water is being caught in drains and being recycled by means of lagoons.

Ash will be transported in sealed sea containers to a properly licensed landfill site. The current estimate is that there will be 30 containers moved every day for 7 days a week over a period of 8 weeks, that is approximately 1,600 movements. Presumably not all container loads will be the full 20 tons they hope to move in one load.

The Epynt Action Group will be monitoring progress carefully and is seeking volunteers to act as observers during this period.

It is not known yet how much material will have to be removed in addition to the ash in order to remediate the site. Clearly, from the first day the site was opened it has proven to be a disaster for the environment and public health. It has also been a very expensive exercise for the tax-payer. For this reason there needs to be a public enquiry in order to establish how so many errors were made, who was to blame and how such a disaster can be avoided in the future.

It is also worth noting that until the Epynt was used for carcass disposal there was no Foot and Mouth in the Brecon area. Since then a number of outbreaks have occurred along the main roads used by the carcass lorries going to the Epynt. This could, of course, be a coincidence but there were a number of incidences involving spillages, lorries getting lost and lorries stopping en-route. The Epynt Action Group has a full log of all these incidences. •

Further information can be found at www.Epynt-disaster.co.uk