Concerns raised over flooding issues close to housing estates
By Maurice Garvey
HEAVY rain in recent weeks has led to the build up of water on Corkagh Grange - reigniting concerns of flooding in the Cherrywood and Kilcarberry areas of Clondalkin.
Almost daily rainfall in the last week has led to an extensive build up of water on land beside the new housing for Kilcarberry.
Flooding in Corkagh Park
Recent flooding has also occurred at the duck pond in Corkagh Park, which is located a short hop away from the affected lands.
In November, South Dublin County Council drainage workers removed a valve and constructed a temporary weir downstream.
The lakes in Corkagh Park were completed in 2000 as part of a flood alleviation scheme to protect downstream Clondalkin households from flooding.
A River Camac Flood Alleviation Study, supported by SDCC, Dublin City Council and the OPW, opened to the public in late 2019, but local residents say they have not heard about it since.
With further housing planned for the area in the years to come, Paddy Ging, a member of Friends of the Camac – the river which passes through Clondalkin – urges the council to engage with local residents.
“The problem we have going forward is the river will be beaten back by virtue of the fact that someone has built houses – we are losing quality for a shortsighted solution,” he said.
“The river is a natural beast, it meanders its course and changes. It finds a path based on soil and rocks. When it floods it overflows.
“Friends of the Camac often find something that has been done and we have to pick up the pieces. The council seem to have an aversion to speaking to people with local expertise. We need to join together to address this.”
Cllr Francis Timmons (Ind), has raised the matter of flooding in the council on a number of occasions.
“While I welcome the Flood Alleviation Works project, I am very concerned at the raised levels of water in the fishing lakes these are the flood lakes for Cherrywood area and rising water has a lot of residents very concerned about this.
“I was told at a previous meeting there may be a need to build another lake to take water and provide drainage. I am still awaiting a reply back from the Director on this matter.”
Cllr William Carey (SF), who has also raised the issue in the chamber, said residents of Cherrywood Crescent are concerned that the build of new housing may be affecting the level of rainwater flow into the system
South Dublin County Council have said the drainage design for 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.”
Paddy Ging, from Friends of the Camac said people power is the only way forward for the local community.
“Nobody is going to be happy because they built houses in the wrong place but it needs Kilcarberry and Cherrywood people to make their case. It is about trying to get the river back into a state of cleanliness, it has been here forever, let us not be the ones who made it disappear.”
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