Cllr William Carey has expressed concern regarding the recent flooding that occurred at the duck pond in Corkagh Park. The Clondalkin Councillor said that the recent wet weather had made the top surface fairly soft and that South Dublin County Council (SDCC) need to monitor the flow into the Camac river and ensure that no blockages occur in the system that may cause overflows such as that which occurred recently.
Despite assurances from SDCC management that the flooding was caused by a blocked drain that was subsequently cleared by council staff, local residents in Cherrywood Crescent expressed concern about the delay in by SDCC to react to the flooding. One resident stated that it took the council 5 days to react to the flooding that occurred and to clear the problem.
In a reply given at the area committee to a question posed by Cllr Carey, SDCC stated, “The lakes in question were completed in 2000 as part of a flood alleviation scheme to protect the downstream Clondalkin households from flooding. As such they were designed to retain water in periods of heavy rainfall and if necessary, overspill on the neighbouring park lands without damage to property. On receipt of the recent complaint of footpath flooding, the Drainage Operations Section removed the silted up non-return valve on the pond outlet and constructed a temporary weir downstream to prevent the lake emptying completely. There appears to be a change in the flow regime to the lakes and this present arrangement appears to be successfully dealing with this”
According to Cllr Carey, this explanation does not adequately explain the flooding problem and in fact raises more question about the “change in flow to the lakes”.
Residents of near-by Cherrywood Crescent are concerned that the recent build at Corkagh grange may be affecting the level of flow of rainwater into the system. Following further questions at the local area committee meeting from Cllr Carey, SDCC responded by stating that “The drainage design for the Corkagh Grange development has been developed in accordance with Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SuDS) design principles, which is mandatory and applies to all new developments. Compliance with these design principles ensures that surface water run-off from a new development will mimic the run-off that exists in the greenfield state, the run off has been designed to remain within our boundary therefore there is no risk of flooding into adjacent developments. The surface water drainage system disperses rainwater from the pavement via appropriately designed carrier drains through an attenuation system before discharge into the final drainage connection. John Sisk & Son, the Works Contractor, has confirmed that the surface water drainage system has been designed and installed in accordance with the planning and construction requirements.
Pictured: Cllr William Carey at the duck ponds in Corkagh park that overflowed recently.
