SPA residents could face a contaminated drinking water supply if an appeal to dump waste in a quarry site near the town is given the green light.

Biffa Waste Services applied for a tipping licence for domestic and light industrial rubbish last year, but in January (2005) it was refused by the Environment Agency.

Officers turned down the application because it did not convince them the environment would be safe.

Environment Agency spokesman, Oliver Blackburn, said: "We have started a rebuttal of their appeal and will be defending our decision to turn the application down."

Hartlebury Quarry, owned by Baggeridge Bricks, which is on the patch of land off Station Road and between Whitlenge Lane and Walton Lane, in Hartlebury, near Droitwich, is already a site for one operating landfill.

Another landfill in the same area is owned by Worcestershire County Council, and is known to leak.

After it was discovered it was leaking, the rubbish was covered and methane monitors had to be installed to check the site was not dangerous.

Co-ordinator for residents' group, Hartlebury Against Landfill Toxins, who have been fighting the application, Mark Massey said: "We are worried the same thing might happen again. This site is lower than the water table and there is a significant concern that in time the water supply could be contaminated."

Severn Trent Water have confirmed there is an underground water reservoir - called an aquifer - which is directly under the potential waste site, that provides drinking water for residents of Droitwich Spa.

Now Biffa have written to the Planning Inspectorate claiming the proper planning procedures were not followed with regards to their application.

The Inspectorate will have the final say about the application but a time-scale for the appeal is not yet known.

Spokesman for Biffa Waste Services, Barry Walton said: "We are confident our application is robust and that is why we are appealing against the Environment Agency's decision.