The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
23.07.17
16 Deputy A. Howell of the Minister for Infrastructure regarding international safety
standards of leachate (OQ.152/2023)
Will the Minister explain how his department ensures that every tanker load of leachate taken from the cells of hazardous waste at La Collette is safe according to internationally accepted standards and, furthermore, how the public is assured of the robustness of this process?
Deputy T. Binet (The Minister for Infrastructure):
There is a slight degree of ambiguity in the way the question is written, so I approached Deputy Howell and we have agreed what the question was intended to ask. I am going to endeavour to answer it in that context. As I have explained in my previous response to Deputy Howell , the leachate at La Collette, when it is sent to La Collette, is treated in exactly the same way as raw sewage’s treatment. That treatment is fully compliant with all the discharge regulations and the site is licensed and regulated under Jersey’s drainage and waste management laws. It also holds a trade effluent discharge permit and a waste management licence. Water samples at the outflow are analysed against the marine environmental quality standards specified in the European Union’s Water Framework Directive. Recently, there has been quite a lot of concern expressed about the possible presence of trace elements of heavy metals at discharge and, as I said earlier, in recent times there have not been any of those tests. But I have spoken to the department and we are already under way to set up monthly tests for heavy metals at the outlet. Furthermore, we are quite happy to make those results publicly known.
4.16.1 Deputy A. Howell :
I was really asking as well how we are testing the leachate when we are taking it from the hazardous waste before it goes to La Collette.
[16:45]
Deputy T. Binet :
We certainly do not test the leachate before it is transported. I am led to believe that there are not any safety issues in the transport process, so I think that would possibly be slightly unnecessary. But we do test leachate from 10 cells every 6 months and we do test for heavy metals at that time, from the leachate itself from 10 cells.