COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE/FIRHOUSE/BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

MOTION NO.2

MOTION: Councillor P. Kearns

That this committee calls on the Chief Executive to explain what steps can be taken to address the ongoing flooding issues in Tymon park every time we have heavy rainfall.

REPORT:

The month of February 2020 has been an extremely wet month with 155mm of rainfall recorded at Casement Aerodrome weather station in the month compared with the average February rainfall over the years 2017 to 2019 of 48.5mm.  This represents an increase by a factor of 3.2 in the monthly rainfall.  In mid February following a period of days where there was persistently heavy rainfall flooding issues arose at two locations, at the all weather pitch beside Templeogue United and at the rear of Kennington Road.

The flooding to the rear of Kennington Road arose as a result of a constant discharge of surface water to an open drain which was not capable of sustaining it.  Temporary measures have been put in place to deal with this and to stop the flow in the direction of the affected houses, this has been done by plugging a piped culvert which takes the flow from the pitches over to the open drain which is in the wooded area to the rear of the houses.  This measure has contained the discharge in the system of open drains around the pitches, this situation is being monitored daily and requires pumping from the open drains from time to time to keep the situation under control.  A permanent solution to this is required and the area has been surveyed to enable a permanent solution to be identified. It is proposed to install a drain diagonally across pitch number 141 which will take the discharge to the piped system which is already in place (adjacent to no 54 Kennington Road).  It is proposed that this pitch will be taken out of use for the second half of 2020 and that the necessary works will be carried out in late 2020/early 2021. 

The flooding to the all weather pitch beside Templeogue United arose due to the extremely heavy rainfall over a prolonged period of time combined with a blockage in a drainage pipe which is adjacent to the pitch itself and which interfered with the flow.  The pipe blockage referred to has been cleared.  It is proposed to examine this pipe further to determine if it needs to be increased in size.  A modification has also been made to the discharge from the new sand based pitch nearby which will release water to the drainage system at a slower rate.

It should be noted that the flood alleviation works to the Poddle which will commence in due course will improve the drainage situation in that catchment and will help to resolve a number of minor flooding issues which have arisen in the past in that part of the park.  Flooding issues which have arisen in the past at the lakes beside the Wellington Lane car park led to the installation of an additional overflow connection between these lakes.  These outlets are monitored closely to ensure that they are flowing freely.