This article is from page 6 of the 2014-03-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE County Council has begun an independent investigation into why asbestos material was illegally deposited at nine locations in West Clare and not disposed of properly.
A council spokesperson said there is “no evidence to suggest there are anymore sites”.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Safety Authority has been informed that the council now plans to remove the hazardous waste from the locations in Kil rush and Kilkee.
“All of the asbestos material investigated to date consists of broken pieces of Asbestos Cement Water main. It is considered that all of this material originated on Clare County Council water services mains replacement and mains repai r works. The material appears to have been deposited over an undetermined number of years up to June 2013,” the spokesperson confirmed.
Asbestos waste material disposal is governed by legal requirements and the requi rements of the HSA and the EPA.
“A specialist asbestos consultant has been engaged by the council to advise the authority on the removal of the materials,” he added.
The removal of the material is to be undertaken in three phases.
Phase one, which is done in accordance with the advice of a specialist asbestos removal consultant involves the removal of pieces of broken asbestos pipe on the surface at all sites.
“This work will commence shortly and will take approximately three to four weeks,” said the spokesperson.
Phase two involves the appointment of a specialist asbestos consultant to develop and car ry out soil testing on the sites to establish the extent of asbestos material which is buried at the sites.
“Phase three will involve the removal of any asbestos material at any of the sites which is buried. The timeline for phase two and three is not known in detail as yet because it is subject to estimating the amount of material in each site,” he explained. The costs associated with car rying out these works are not yet known.