Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported from Alderman Haire and Councillors Beattie, Kyle and O’Hara.

No declarations of interest were reported.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 11th May, it had agreed to hold a special meeting to discuss the issue of exploratory drilling at Woodburn Forest. 

            The Committee considered a report from the Head of Environmental Health, during which the Chairperson reminded the Committee that NI Water, Stop the Drill and InfraStrata had been invited to attend the meeting but that InfraStrata had not responded.

            She advised the Members that Ms. Majella McCarron and Ms. Fiona Joyce from the Stop the Drill campaign group were in attendance and they were welcomed to the meeting by the Committee.

            The representatives from Stop the Drill explained to the Committee that they were campaigning to protect the water catchment area in the Woodburn Forest and the nearby North Woodburn Reservoir.  Ms. McCarron provided the Committee with an overview of where, in their opinion, various public and private agencies had acted wrongly, or failed to act, in relation to the recent drilling which had taken place at Woodburn Forest by InfraStrata.

            Ms. McCarron outlined to the Committee that NI Water had no in-house oil and gas experts and that it was Stop the Drill’s understanding that NI Water had signed an Exploration Agreement with InfraStrata having considered a paper entitled ‘SE Antrim Exploration - Information to inform NI Water Business Case’ which had been written by RPS, InfraStrata’s agent.  She stated that no independent investigations had been commissioned by NI Water and that, in their view, this decision was fundamentally flawed.  She also outlined that obligatory methane testing had to take place on the site before any work could take place, and that RPS had carried out that testing also. 

            Ms. Joyce suggested to the Members that the Exploration Agreement between NI Water and InfraStrata was contrary to the Belfast Water Act 1899 in relation to the prevention of polluting the public water supply and of leasing the lands.  She also alleged that the groundwater was at risk from the chemicals being used on the site and made particular reference to ‘Biocide T’, which she stated was designated as hazardous under Groundwater Regulations (NI) 2009.

            During their presentation, the representatives from Stop the Drill outlined the following points to the Committee for its consideration:

·        after acknowledging the risks to the groundwater, RPS/InfraStrata had told NI Water that the site would be ‘zero discharge’, without NI Water obtaining any independent verification and this was a dereliction of duty by NI Water;

·        the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Natural Heritage and the former Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) had stated that the Woodburn drilling site would drain into the North Woodburn Reservoir;

·        NI Water had a public duty to carry out independent baseline testing on-site before the drilling began, but did not;

·        a conflict of interest existed, as NI Water was both the landlord for the site as well as the public body in charge of safeguarding drinking water;

·        Infrastrata was on site before the Waste Management Plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

            The Chairperson advised the Members that Mr. Sean McAleese, Mr. Maynard Cousley and Ms. Alison McMullan from NI Water were in attendance and they were welcomed by the Chairperson to the meeting. 

            Mr. McAleese advised the Members that the security and safety of the public water supply was NI Water’s top priority and that it would not carry out, or permit, any activity which would jeopardise the quality of the water delivered to its customers.

            He explained to the Committee that initial testing had indicated that there could have been potentially 25 to 40million barrels of oil in the Woodburn Forest area and he highlighted the impact that this would have had on the local economy.  The Members were advised that exploratory drilling was required to check the future viability of the site.

            Mr. Cousley advised the Members that NI Water owned approximately 60% of the total land which fed into the Dorisland/Woodburn impounding reservoirs.  He advised the Members that the majority of that land was leased to the Forest Service or local farmers for grazing, but that any farming practices taking place on the land were controlled by NI Water to ensure that there was no residual risk to the drinking water supply.  He highlighted to the Committee that, with cars and farming vehicles driving through the area, a day to day risk already existed for oil to potentially enter the water stream.

            Ms. McMullan explained the Drinking Water Safety Plans which NI Water used for the entire water supply throughout Northern Ireland.  She provided the Members with the risk matrix which was used, explained how each risk was analysed and minimised, and highlighted that the practices were based on World Health Organisation guidance and requirements from the Drinking Water Regulations.  She detailed all the risks which had been identified for the Dorisland Water Treatment Works and the actions which had been taken to mitigate those risks.

            Mr. McAleese advised the Committee of the Drinking Water Quality Monitoring process, which ensured that over 200,000 samples of water were tested each year.  The Committee was advised also that samples of raw water were tested every week, that final water quality was monitored 24/7 at the Water Treatment Works and that samples of the final water were taken and tested on a daily basis.

            In response to a number of points which had been raised by the Stop the Drill representatives, the NI Water representatives stated that:

·        the exploratory drilling process used at Woodburn was conventional and they emphasised that it was not fracking;

·        the drilling process used best industry practice in the UK;

·        the chemicals used were standard industry products that were used in deep drilling;

·        the process and the chemicals employed had been used both within surface water and groundwater catchments in other areas of the UK, with no adverse effect on water quality nor adjacent aquifers;

·        the drilling site had been taken out of the catchment area by closing the intake feed from the Woodburn River  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2a