Heavy rainfall in Waterford is causing stormwater and sewage overflow in Tramore.
Following reports of sewage on Strand Road, Tramore, WLR contacted Irish Water and Waterford Council.
The sewer system in Tramore was built in the early 1900s and as such carries waste water from homes and businesses, together with surface water.
Irish Water issued a statement to WLR saying excess flows are discharged into the vicinity of Tramore Bay when the system is under pressure.
They have committed to engaging with Waterford Council on identifying solutions to minimise the impact of storm inflows, with the Uisce Eireann Tramore plan currently ongoing.
The full statement reads:
"Stormwater overflows can be a common feature of wastewater networks in most countries and are operated under regulation to achieve the requirements of the Water Framework Directive and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. The sewer system in Waterford was built in the early 1900s and, as was typical at the time, it carries both wastewater from homes and businesses and surface water that drains from roads and pavements. Heavy rainfall is a feature of Irish weather and as our planet gets warmer, the frequency and intensity of rainfall is likely to increase. During times of heavy rainfall, when the sewers and pumping stations become overwhelmed, stormwater overflows enable excess flows to be discharged into the sea, rivers or watercourses in a controlled and regulated manner. This is to protect homes, gardens, roads and open spaces from wastewater flooding. For this reason, regulated stormwater overflows into our sea, rivers and watercourses, including in the vicinity of Tramore Bay, are necessary.
In addition, surface water and foul systems can become misconnected through poor construction and some new hard standing areas are connected to combined systems in older catchments. These connections result in rain water taking up capacity in the Foul sewer. This is known as urban creep as the original Foul sewers are not designed to take this additional flow.
Irish Water is engaging with Local Authorities, who have responsibility for public storm water infrastructure, and developers to look for solutions to minimise the impact of storm inflows into the sewer network in order to reduce the capacity constraints in the Foul sewers and enable growth and development.
The Uisce Éireann Tramore DAP (Drainage Area Plan) project is currently ongoing and network survey crews are expected to be onsite towards the end of Q3 / start of Q4 and these areas where combine network capacity issues are currently ongoing have been identified for detail surveys and further design analysis and modeling."
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