Irish Examiner - 13/08/05
EPA probes serious waste blunder
By Eoin English

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pursuing a pharmachem company responsible for a serious waste management blunder.

The EPA said yesterday it viewed the waste pipe labelling error at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Co Cork, which emerged this week but went unnoticed for eight months, as a serious breach of its operating licence.

A waste pipe mix-up at GSK’s Nanomilling facility in Currabinny resulted in waste - meant for incineration - being pumped instead to a waste water treatment pipe which in turn discharged into the harbour.

The EPA strongly defended its role last night in the handling of the case.

GSK notified the EPA’s Cork office about the error on Friday, April 15 last.

“Discharge from the waste line to the wastewater treatment facility immediately ceased and the pipes were disconnected,” an EPA spokeswoman said.

All sludge from that treatment plant was exported for incineration and any compounds therein destroyed. As the discharged compounds were very poorly soluble in water, there was no damage to the aquatic environment and no threat to public health.”

The EPA requested a report from the company on the discharges which was received on May 18.

It showed that the waste, which was 99% water, had been adequately treated.

“This is confirmed by toxicity tests carried out by the company and EPA sampling carried out on emissions from the wastewater treatment plant,” she said.

“After reviewing the impact assessment, the EPA is satisfied that there was no impact on the environment. The incorrect connection of the waste pipeline is the subject of an ongoing enforcement investigation.”

Because three company tests failed to spot the error, waste was pumped to the treatment plant from July 2004 until March 2005 when the error was spotted during routine maintenance.

A total of 12 EPA inspections were carried out on the GSK plant between 2004 and 2005, the spokesperson said.

Irish law allows the EPA to take summary prosecutions at district court level and maximum fines are a matter for the courts. The EPA has no powers to determine or impose fines.