Dundalk's Kelly gets welcome update on flooding at Castletown Road in Dundalk

Cllr Seán Kelly has received a welcome update from Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) on recent works to alleviate the flooding issue at the railway bridge at the Castletown Road in Dundalk, which includes the installation of a new foul water pump at Boyle O’Reilly Pumping Station.

The local councillor told the Dundalk Democrat that the flooding issue is an ongoing concern for many local residents and said, "I have engaged extensively with Irish Water and the Water Services team on Louth County Council to try to rectify this issue." Cllr Kelly added that the response from Uisce Éireann to him means that "hopefully this will stop this problem occurring again".

Uisce Éireann told Cllr Kelly that, "EPS operate 10 pumping stations throughout Dundalk as well as the Dundalk WWTP, under a historic DBO (Design Build and Operate) contract on behalf of Uisce Éireann. All onsite operations staff are fully trained and experienced and have operated the various sites for over 20 years. They also have a host of support staff and experienced contractors to call upon when needed.

"Foul and storm water pumps at the pumping stations are automatically controlled, with alarms in place to alert the operator of issues. All sites are visited at a minimum once per week with additional visits taking place during and after heavy rainfall. There are unfortunately capacity constraints in the network which struggle to handle high volumes during prolonged periods of high flows. The area most affected is close to the railway bridge which feeds into Boyle O’Reilly Pumping Station.

"This area flooded again on 22/23 November during the recent Storm. EPS visited the pumping station and liaised with network colleagues in Louth County Council and Uisce Eireann DBO Team.  Forward feed of surface water to the plant was at capacity and the storm pump was also active. In storm conditions there is no further action operators can take in most cases and flooding is the unavoidable consequence when the network is overwhelmed.

"Uisce Eireann DBO team has recently completed a project to install a new foul water pump at Boyle O’Reilly Pumping Station at a significant capital cost. A project is underway on a second pump which is currently with a specialist for assessment. There is now ample capacity with three of four foul pumps operational particularly due to the increase in capacity of the newly installed pump. Capacity constraints within the network remain an issue.”