New Water, Flooding And Drainage Legislation To Be Developed

The Department for Infrastructure is seeking input on the development of legislation on water, flooding and drainage in an effort to help tackle the climate emergency.

Climate change has contributed to an increased likelihood of warmer drier summers, milder wetter winters and an increased frequency of impactful storms. This poses new challenges for how we all manage, use, and treat the precious water resources we all share.

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said: "Extreme weather conditions that come with climate change pose risks to people’s homes, businesses, safety and health. In order to tackle these threats we must revise, improve and update our legislation on water, flooding and drainage.

"Some of the key objectives we are seeking to achieve include reducing the pollution of our watercourses, strengthening our resilience against extreme weather events such as drought and flooding and working towards more environmentally friendly and green solutions to managing our precious water resources."

The wider use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), the ability to store storm water in green/open areas during heavy rainfall, and enabling NI Water to adopt and maintain some privately owned drainage infrastructure constructed pre-1973 are all being considered.

The Minister continued: "Some of these measures under consideration offer opportunities for reducing flooding in areas at risk. The planning and creation of more SuDS in development areas will help slow the flow of water entering our sewers during times of heavy rainfall and will reduce out-of-sewer flooding. We are also consulting on continuing the Homeowner Flood Protection Grant Scheme beyond its initial pilot phase.

"In addition to offering protection to those in flood-risk areas, using SuDS and other works to help reduce the volume of storm water that enters combined sewers will reduce discharges from combined sewer overflows that can pollute our watercourses. This consultation is also examining other ways to better protect our environment from pollution, such as by improving how misconnections can be found and fixed.

"It is important that we gather the views of members of the public and stakeholders on the proposed legislation and I encourage everyone to submit their views. Your responses to these proposed changes will help to guide how we manage periods of water shortage and high or excessive demand for water as well as flood management which will enable sustainable drainage systems to better protect our environment."

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, closing on 03 June 2022.