Proposed Change In Water Quality Monitoring At Rhosrobin Cemetery

The Cemetery on land off Plas Acton Road in Rhosrobin initially gained planning permission under the agreement that a monthly monitoring programme would be in place to keep an eye on water quality.

A planning application has been made by the council to alter these terms, as the number of burials has been less than expected and it is reported there has been no evidence of any pollution. The changes would see the expensive monitoring being scaled back at a ‘reduced frequency’. This is suggested to be changed from monthly monitoring to yearly monitoring of certain boreholes on the site.

Monitoring of water around cemeteries is common in the UK, as once a burial takes place the body and coffin begin to decay. As this happens fluids can leach out and may eventually work their way down to the groundwater underlying the site. This fluid may contain embalming fluid, pathogens and microbes which could contaminate groundwater.

There are no proposed changes to the initial planning application in terms of actual burials, which will continue to be ‘above the local water table’ and there will be ‘no burial into standing water’.