Derry residents 'fear the worst' after sewage floods gardens

The flooding happened on Tuesday, October 4 as a result of a damaged pipe in Marianus Park, which led to sewage overflowing downhill and into properties and gardens in North Meadows.

Some residents had built retaining walls and installed drainage systems in their gardens, which helped to slow and deter some of the water and prevented homes being damaged.

NI Water were unable to fix the sewer until Thursday, as a high fence was installed in the area, blocking access. They also sent people out to clean one property on Thursday, with the rest being completed on Friday.

Resident Michael McGowan said: “On Tuesday, we notices the water was coming over the retaining wall and into the garden. My wife called NI Water, who said they would document it and nobody came out. This came on for a period of about 20 hours until, eventually, someone came to look at it. Someone came out on Wednesday evening to see the manholes but he found out it was too big of a job so they had to go get someone else to come out. They managed to stop the water flow onto our properties at about 11pm on Wednesday night so the sewage was flowing for a full 24 hours.

"All my neighbours are pensioners, except for one, and the water was heading in their direction. I had to knock on the door of one of our neighbours at 11.30pm to tell him to be aware that it was starting to go into his garden. This happened twice in 2010 and they assured me it was sorted then but it clearly isn’t. It’s a recurring problem but this time it was worse than the others, especially when it was coming over and through our retaining wall. I’ve noticed cracks in the wall now so I will have to get that looked at, too. “It was raw sewage coming through, you can see it all over my garden and in the driveway and the whole area is contaminated. After the second time it happened, we were given sterilisation products but that was it. They assured us last time that the problem was sorted but it clearly wasn’t. We’re just hoping it doesn’t happen again now.”

Another resident, who is recovering from major surgery, also had rainwater and sewage run over the retaining wall and into his garden. He isn’t supposed to do any lifting for another few weeks but had to lift manhole covers on Tuesday night to prevent sewage from entering his house or flowing downhill into his neighbours’ houses.

He said: “I have been a resident here for over 30 years and I have seen this happen before. We got very little support from the relevant departments in the past. We initially thought that this was heavy rain but we noticed that, where it pooled, it was grey. We looked behind the walls and noticed it was covered in detritus and what looked to me to be toilet roll.

"We thought initially that the pipe was blocked but after speaking to workers there, they told us that the pipe has failed. What worries me now is that we don’t know how long that has been broken and seeping out and whether it has dislodged the soils and clay around it. That would then impact our houses so we’re going to bed at night wondering if anything is going to move and fearing the worst.”

Residents contacted Sinn Féin MLA Ciara Ferguson and Councillor Conor Heaney, who contacted NI Water on their behalf and also visited the street to see the extent of the damage.

Colr. Heaney said: “I was contacted by a number of residents on Wednesday, who told me that their back gardens were overflowing with raw sewage coming from a leak. I put in an emergency call with NI Water, who came out to see what the problem was. They saw that it was a bigger issue than they initially thought, so they sent out other contractors, who worked through the night and again on Thursday morning to remove what seems to be a major blockage.

"This is a historical issue, some of the residents were saying this is the third or fourth time this has happened so it was a bigger problem than a simple blockage. The worry now is finding out how many houses this particular system is dealing with. Is it just Marianus Park or does it go up to St Eithne’s Park and further up the Springtown Road. If that is the case, there needs to be a radical overhaul of what is down there.”

A spokesperson for NI Water said: “NI Water contractors attended Marianus Park on Wednesday. There was some difficulty accessing the area where the sewer is located due to a high fence being installed, however NIHE were able to provide access.

"NI Water contractors stopped the spillage and repair crews attended on Thursday to carry out repairs to a damaged pipe. NI Water can assure customers, where a sewer pipe is found to have defects, it will be repaired as a matter of urgency. Clean up to the affected areas was completed on Thursday.

“NI Water is not aware of a previous issue with the sewer in this area. We would like to thank NI Water customers for their patience while we deal with this issue.”