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Northern Ireland Office

Answer

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been made of the environmental impact on the Crumlin River from its source to Lough Neagh of the proximity of asbestos storage and destruction at Crosshill Quarry, Crumlin. [196084] Angela Smith: No specific assessment of the impact of the Crossbill Quarry site on the Crumlin River has been undertaken as the quality of the discharge from the quarry site has complied with all the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) consent standards which have been set to ensure that the discharge does not have a negative impact on the watercourse. In addition, the results from routine river water quality monitoring indicate no adverse trends in water quality. Monitoring, undertaken by the Water Management Unit of EHS, has shown that over the last five years the Crumlin River has complied with the Freshwater Fish Directive (FFD) which is designed to ensure that waters are of sufficient quality to protect fish life. Chemical quality throughout the Crumlin River catchment has been Fairly Good to Good, with no definite trends discernible from the classifications. Biological quality throughout the catchment has ranged between Fairly Good and Very Good, with the upper reaches of the Crumlin River and its tributaries tending to be of slightly better quality than the lower reaches of the river. EHS recently collected a sample of the discharge from the quarry to be checked for the presence of asbestos. No asbestos was detected in the sample. The following table (Crumlin River System) sets out FFD compliance and General Quality Assessment (GQA) chemical and biological classifications for the most recent five years available. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Crumlin River at Crumlin River at Crumlin River at Dundesert River at Cooper's Water at Cidercourt Bridge Airport Road Bridge Thompsons' Bridge Dundesert Gospel Boomer's Bridge Hall Irish grid ref J135766 J192767 J225765 J169775 J216757 Type of station Primary Primary Secondary Minor Minor FFD designation Salmonid Salmonid Salmonid Not designated Not designated FFD 1999 Pass Pass n/a n/a n/a FFD 2000 Pass Pass n/a n/a n/a FFD 2001 Pass Pass n/a n/a n/a FFD 2002 Pass Pass n/a n/a n/a FFD 2003 Pass Pass n/a n/a n/a GQA chem. 1997-99 B B n/a n/a n/a GQA chem. 1998-2000 B C n/a n/a n/a GQA chem. 1999-2001 B C n/a n/a n/a GQA chem. 2000-02 C C n/a n/a n/a GQA chem. 2001-03 C C n/a n/a C GQA biol. 1999 C (1) B (1) A (3) B (1) A (1) GQA biol. 2000 B (3) B (3) A (2) A (1) B (1) GQA biol. 2001 C (1) C (1) D (1) B (1) C (1) GQA biol. 2002 C (3) C (3) A (1) B (3) B (3) GQA biol. 2003 C (3) C (3) B (2) B (1) B (1) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Station type: Primary = larger river Secondary = smaller river more than 3 m wide Minor = 1.5 to 3 m wide Chem./biol. classification: A = very good quality B = good quality C = fairly good quality D = poor quality E = bad quality Notes: 1. FFD compliance is recorded only for designated rivers. Dundesert River and Cooper's Water are not designated. Crumlin River at Thompson's Bridge was only designated in December 2003. 2. GQA chemical classification requires three years' data. Crumlin River at Thompson's Br. was chemically monitored for the first time at the start of 2003, so its first GQA classification was end of 2003. 3. Dundesert River is not chemically monitored. 4. Chemical classification is based on results for rolling three-year periods. 5. Biological classification is based on results for individual years. 6. Number in brackets beside biological classification indicates number of seasons during which biological monitoring was undertaken.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

196084; 426 c1634-5W;426 c1637-8W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Asbestos Chemicals Environment Fish Northern Ireland Pollution Nature conservation Standards Water Storage Waste disposal

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk