Floods warning: We can’t beat them

Floods warning: We can’t beat them

2 March 2016

THE district’s flooding problems will never be fully eliminated, a Northern Ireland Water official has warned.

Graham Millar, one of NI Water’s most senior officials, told a special meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down councillors on Monday evening that no drainage solution in flood-prone areas would be 100 per cent effective.

Speaking after a special presentation about ongoing work by NI Water to update infrastructure, Mr Millar was speaking in response to queries posed by councillors Dermot Curran and Colin McGrath about three separate flooding incidents in Downpatrick.

Mr Curran asked officials if they could not take action about a recent serious flood at Market Street in Downpatrick and the first ever flooding problem at Stream Street and St Patrick’s Avenue, while Mr McGrath said he had was concerned about the repeated flooding of Strangford Road.

While Mr Millar said a new pumping station for Market Street was running and would help alleviate the problem, he said he always warned people affected by flooding that pumps have a finite capacity.

“We can reduce the amount of flooding but we cannot eliminate it. How much rain will fall, who knows?” he said.

“At some stage your drainage will be beaten. That is what we are facing.”

Mr Millar said officials were focused on property flooding due to the emotional impact such incidents have. While there are maps detailing the flood risk per area, he said it was impossible to predict when flooding would occur.

Councillors were told the flooding incident at Stream Street was under examination and was understood to have come from an unadopted water source.

During the meeting, councillors from across the district asked officials to examine several other areas prone to flooding from Carryduff to Annsborough and Newcastle.Councillor Stephen Burns said he remained concerned about flooding in Annsborough despite a multi-agency approach to resolve the issue.

He said he was particularly concerned by the number of times Annsborough Wastewater Treatment Works appears to go into by-pass mode, which means waste water is dumped directly into the nearby river.

Mr Burns was assured work was being done to double the capacity of the water system to cope with flash flooding, which comes from Castlewellan lake.

Councillor Paul O’Gribin said he was concerned about plans to zone land in Leitrim for development and said potential flooding issues needed to be fully explored before such permission for new buildings could be considered.

Robert Burgess said he would like to see action on the A7 at the Ballygowan turn-off outside Saintfield, which he said had been prone to flooding since roadworks 10 years ago, as well as gully clearing at the A7 near Carryduff.

Councillor William Clarke told NI Water officials that the Newcastle community was keen to take over ownership of a disused building beside the sewerage works at the harbour. He said the building, which is owned by NI Water, would make a good water sport centre.

He said more action also needed to be taken to resolve ongoing issues at Marguerite Park, Mourne View, Linkside Park, Corrigs Road, Bryansford Road and Newcastle’s Main Street.

Councillor Colin McGrath also asked NI Water to cover an open trench, designed to take floodwater, at Dunleath Park. He said a cover needed to put be over the trench for health and safety reasons.