Nobody knew what was in them - it was an enormous hole in the ground just being filled with waste."I worry that it could be what killed my husband, my cousin's wife, my friends."Alan Cook, a consultant geologist and geotechnical engineer who has spent 15 years testing contaminants in the Black Country (which takes its name from the blackening effect that chemical waste has had on its environment), supports the residents' claims."I'm particularly concerned that the area is unusually heavily contaminated with cadmium," he says "In a public open space, that is very worrying. "We watched them day after day bringing drums filled with all kinds of rubbish from the local factory. "I'm no scientist, and I never thought I'd know what toluene or leachates were, but I've had to learn it all."Her survey also revealed a high incidence of unexplained skin rashes and eye irritations - both potential signs of exposure to landfill contaminants - and 15 residents with heart conditions.Neighbour Irene Holmes, who says her street has lost at least 15 people to cancer since 1990, remembers the site - which drains towards the Rocket Pool from which the 1950s council estate takes its name - being filled."It used to be the locks of the canal," she says. Too many people have already died."Her survey, she says, has revealed 23 cases of breast cancer, seven of bowel cancer, three of cervical cancer, five of lung cancer, four of throat cancer and one case of leukaemia "Those were just in the houses I surveyed," she says. The results are expected in September."I just know there is something that is not right in Bradley," says Mrs Oram. "We have always made it clear that we will not rest until it is put right and whatever is causing the cancer is made safe for the next generation. Even if there is a cluster it could be down to a number of other causes - but we are trying everything in our power to get to the bottom of it."The health authority has now commissioned an epidemiologist from the Birmingham Institute of Public Health, Pat Saunders, to examine whether or not there is a cancer cluster in the area, and environmental health specialists are to test the site further for toxic contiminants.

"We have conducted research into the number of cancer deaths in the area and can find nothing amiss; we have tested the site and the nearby Rocket Pool and can find nothing amiss. It may also have a high water table, allowing a possible movement of leachates and contiminants, some of which may be toxic."Wolverhampton Health Authority says it has conducted many tests of the site, its soil, air and water, since then, but can find nothing wrong.Although Mrs Oram has claimed that the council is not taking her seriously, Dr Alwyn Davies, the health authority's consultant in public health medicine, says this is unfair."Even though Mrs Oram's survey is amateur we are effectively treating the situation as if there is a cluster," he says. Tests on the site have found quantities of cadmium, methane, cyanide, arsenic, lead, chromium, phenol and toluene.A mining report produced in 1991 for Wolverhampton council and leaked to the Independent on Sunday states that: "The fill material may be of a porous nature, allowing easy migration of gases. Mrs Oram, a 52-year-old former voluntary worker, became so worried that she conducted a survey of the health of her neighbourhood.

She found that 52 people out of 156 in 88 households had been diagnosed with or had recently died of cancer - exactly one-third. She is convinced that there is a cancer cluster in Bradley and that it is linked to a recreation area which backs on to her garden and those of her neighbours.The area - where children play, horses graze and locals walk their dogs - was formerly a landfill site, in use in the days before regulations concerning the dumping of toxic chemicals. Next door to him, a woman has died of breast and womb cancer, and two people opposite have also been diagnosed with cancer. On the Rocket Pool estate in Bradley, near Wolverhampton, there is a lot of cancer. Since then, her neighbour has died of cancer and so has the man who lives next door but one. Six Years ago, Joan Oram was diagnosed with womb cancer.

Engineers are pleased because there's less maintenance; you get fewer floods. All you really need to do is to chuck one jar of water down the urinal every week to get rid of urine salts."Water is just a cosmetic. It gives the impression that you are washing away something dirty It's just the human imagination that it's dirty. The smell actually comes when water and urine combine to form scale."The next innovation is "grey-water" recycling technology, which filters and re-uses water from baths, showers and washing machines, with potential savings of pounds 5,000 to pounds 10,000 a year for a 200-bed hotel.The International Hotels Environment Initiative says that as guests become accustomed to such systems, smaller hotels will introduce them too.. Now some of London's most upmarket hotels, the Cumberland, the Intercontinental Mayfair and The Waldorf, and the Cafe Royal, have started using them.John Forte is convinced that the waterless urinal, which saves 500 litres a day, will soon be appreciated by the public."The first reaction is how the heck can you flush the urine and what about the smells, but the truth is just the opposite."With a waterless urinal, smells just disappear. The plan made use of solar energy to pre-heat water.The search for savings led the Little Chef chain of restaurants to introduce waterless urinals: they helped bring down water and effluent bills by pounds 600 per restaurant per year.