Arsenic and old waste at Fort George

The extensive contamination on the site is the consequence of nearly a century of its use as a shipyard and military base and can be revealed fully today by the Sentinel.

According to a newly published Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) the site contains residual TNT, other explosives and ammunitions; various oils and hydrocarbons; solvents; paints; metals including arsenic, lead and zinc; ammonia; polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs (banned by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001); and organotin compounds such as tribuyltin or TBT (banned by the International Maritime Organisation).

The report also shows asbestos was used extensively on the site as an insulation material and that there is also the potential presence of radioactivity due to the site’s heavy industrial use in the past.

Unsurprisingly, there is an urgent need to clean all of this up in order to protect the health of residents in the local area and any future users of a proposed new Science Park and mixed use development on the site of the former Fort.

The report warns that people could be at risk through direct skin contact, inhalation of vapours, dust and gas, ingestion of soil and soil dust and the ingestion of home grown vegetables.

There is also a risk of pollution through the leaching of the various contaminants through the soil, into shallow groundwater and into the Foyle and the Pennyburn.

Whilst of concern for future users it is also a major concern for people living in the Pennyburn and Strand areas of the city who the Sentinel revealed this Spring were amongst the most likely people in Londonderry to suffer and die from cancer.

The highest cancer death rates across Londonderry by Ward during 2008/10 were: Altnagelvin 30; Ballynashallog 30; Brandywell 29; Culmore 29; Pennyburn 29; Strand 27; Clondermot 25; Enagh 25; Holly Mount 25; New Buildings 22.

Equally, the highest incidences of cancer were in: Culmore 139; Enagh 108; Clondermot 106; Altnagelvin 102; Ballynashallog 102; Pennyburn 101; Shantallow West 101; Lisnagelvin 91; Foyle Spring 86; Victoria 86.

In the EIA for the Fort George site the author’s state that the report was produced “on the basis of the desk study and site walkover” and that “a number of possible pollutant linkages have been identified for the proposed development site.”

It also noted that: “For a risk of pollution or environment harm to occur as a result of ground contamination, all of the following elements must be present: a source, i.e. a substance that is capable of causing pollution or harm; a receptor (or target), i.e. something which could be adversely affected by the contaminant; and a pathway, i.e. a route by which the contaminant can reach the receptor.”

All of these are present in the Fort George case and thus: “If all are present then the magnitude of the risk is a function of the magnitude and mobility of the source, the sensitivity of the receptor and the nature of the migration pathway.”

All of these factors must now be taken account of by the proposed developers ILEX and work has already begun regarding the cleansing of the site.

But at the moment there is little sign of progress at Fort George with gorse and clover having sprouted on piles of rubble inside the site, which is also dotted with pools of stagnant water.

Back in April the Sentinel reported how the multimillion pound decontamination of had been delayed by many months - until January 2013 at the earliest.

The contract for cleaning up the former Army Base - the proposed site of the new jobs-boosting Science Park - won’t be advertised until September.

It was previously hoped the job would be finished by June 2012. Now tenders won’t even be returned until January next year.

The application for planning permission, however, has now proceeded.

ILEX have asked for permission for a “major mixed use development to include residential; office, leisure, Light industrial; education; community facilities; retail; cafes, bars and restaurants; associated multi-storey and surface car parking; landscaping and environmental and roads infrastructure (including an enhanced Pennyburn roundabout).”