Groundwater vulnerability and protection in County Tipperary (South Riding), Ireland

The aim of the project was to determine the extent and quality of the groundwater in Tipperary South Riding with a view to developing a groundwater protection plan which would allow the Local Authority to manage, protect and develop the groundwater as efficiently as possible. The geology of the area varies with topography. The low-lying areas of the county comprise mainly Carboniferous limestones while the elevated regions consist of sandstones and shales of Upper Carboniferous, Devonian and Silurian ages. Deformation of these rocks decreases in magnitude moving northwards over the area; the Southern Synclines having suffered the effects of the Hercynian orogeny and the northern region exhibiting Caledonian orogenic trends. Quaternary (subsoil) deposits are found throughout the area and are of variable thickness and permeability. Till is the most widespread deposit with discontinuous pockets of sand and gravel in various proportions, and some marl, alluvium and peat in places. The principal aquifers of the area are the Kiltorcan sandstone formation and various limestone units within the Carboniferous succession. 50 % of south Tipperary constitutes either regionally or locally important aquifers. Secondary permeabilities created by structural deformation, dolomitisation, karstification and weathering processes create high transmissivities and often have large well yields. Specific baseflow analysis highlighted the complexity of the aquifers and proved that the lower part of the Suir river system is a major groundwater resource region. The hydrochemistry and water quality of the local authority groundwater sources was examined briefly. The majority of south Tipperary is underlain by limestone or Quaternary deposits derived from limestone and, consequently, calcium/magnesium bicarbonate waters predominate. The quality of the groundwater in south Tipperary demonstrates that the main concern originates from the presence of E.coli, and Total coliforms. The primary sources of contamination are from farmyard wastes and septic tanks. The vulnerability of groundwater to diffuse and point sources of pollution has been found to be dependent on the overlying soil, subsoil and the thickness of the unsaturated zone. A conceptual rather than quantitative approach is used and it is found that approximately 60% of south Tipperary is designated as being extremely or highly vulnerable. The groundwater protection plan was devised subsequent to an understanding of the aquifer systems, an assessment of the vulnerability, and a review of the Irish planning system and environmental law. It is recommended that the plan be integrated into the county development plan for legislative purposes. A series of acceptability matrices were devised to restrict potentially polluting activities in vulnerable areas while maintaining a balance between protection of the groundwater resource and the need to site essential developments.

Ireland's biodegradable municipal waste

This project focuses on the EU Landfill Directive targets for Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) specifically focusing on how the targets will affect Ireland and its waste management infrastructure. Research will consist of reviewing relevant literature, legislation and policies that will provide a comparable between Ireland and other nations. Planning processes which govern both the building structure and running capacities of treatment facilities is also necessary in order to predict amounts of waste diverted from landfill. The efficiency of these treatment plants also requires investigation. Another objective is to research further information on Irelands organic ‘brown’ bin service, this will involve discovering the roll out of bins in the future over a defined time scale as well as the potential amounts of waste that will be collected. Figures received from waste management and waste treatment companies will be combined with figures from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual reports. This will give an indication to past trends and shed light on possible future trends. With this information annul waste volumes consigned to landfill can be calculated and used to determine whether or not Ireland can achieve the EU Landfill Directive targets. Without significant investment in Irelands waste management infrastructure it is unlikely that the targets will be met. Existing waste treatment facilities need to be managed as efficiently as possible. Waste streams must also be managed so waste is shared appropriately between companies and not create a monopolising waste treatment facility. The driving forces behind an efficient waste management infrastructure are government policy and legislation. An overall and efficient waste management strategy must be in place, along with disincentives for landfilling of waste such as the landfill levy. Encouragement and education of the population is the fundamental and first step to achieving the landfill directive targets.

An analysis of the use of photogrammetric sorting to audit construction and demolition waste production on site

This study analyses the area of construction and demolition waste (C & D W) auditing. The production of C&DW has grown year after year since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first published a report in 1996 which provided data for C&D W quantities for 1995 (EPA, 1996a). The most recent report produced by the EPA is based on data for 2005 (EPA, 2006). This report estimated that the quantity of C&DW produced for that period to be 14 931 486 tonnes. However, this is a ‘data update’ report containing an update on certain waste statistics so any total provided would not be a true reflection of the waste produced for that period. This illustrates that a more construction site-specific form of data is required. The Department of Building and Civil Engineering in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology have carried out two recent research projects (Grimes, 2005; Kelly, 2006) in this area, which have produced waste production indicators based on site-specific data. This involved the design and testing of an original auditing tool based on visual characterisation and the application of conversion factors. One of the main recommendations of these studies was to compare this visual characterisation approach with a photogrammetric sorting methodology. This study investigates the application of photogrammetric sorting on a residential construction site in the Galway region. A visual characterisation study is also carried out on the same project to compare the two methodologies and assess the practical application in a construction site environment. Data collected from the waste management contractor on site was also used to provide further evaluation. From this, a set of waste production indicators for new residential construction was produced: □ 50.8 kg/m2 for new residential construction using data provided by the visual characterisation method and the Landfill Levy conversion factors. □ 43 kg/m2 for new residential construction using data provided by the photogrammetric sorting method and the Landfill Levy conversion factors. □ 23.8 kg/m2 for new residential construction using data provided by Waste Management Contractor (WMC). The acquisition of the data from the waste management contractor was a key element for testing of the information produced by the visual characterisation and photogrammetric sorting methods. The actual weight provided by the waste management contractor shows a significant difference between the quantities provided.

Instrumentation and software for the VERITAS Project and the detection of TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the BL Lacertae Object 1ES1959+650

Transmission of Cherenkov light through the atmosphere is strongly influenced by the optical clarity of the atmosphere and the prevailing weather conditions. The performance of telescopes measuring this light is therefore dependent on atmospheric effects. This thesis presents software and hardware developed to implement a prototype sky monitoring system for use on the proposed next-generation gamma-ray telescope array, VERITAS. The system, consisting of a CCD camera and a far-infrared pyrometer, was successfully installed and tested on the ten metre atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope operated by the VERITAS Collaboration at the F.L. Whipple Observatory in Arizona. The thesis also presents the results of observations of the BL Lacertae object, 1ES1959+650, made with the Whipple ten metre telescope. The observations provide evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object, 1ES1959+650, at a level of more than 15 standard deviations above background. This represents the first unequivocal detection of this object at TeV energies, making it only the third extragalactic source seen at such levels of significance in this energy range. The flux variability of the source on a number of timescales is also investigated.