AQW 11522/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 03/12/2020
Answered On Date: 08/12/2020
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the nine reservoirs that require urgent interventions.

Answer:

A Reservoir Audit carried out in 2016 of some of Northern Ireland’s controlled reservoirs identified 45 reservoirs in Poor or Very Poor condition. A further survey carried out by a specialist consultant reservoir engineer in 2019 identified nine reservoirs that require urgent interventions. The locations of these are:

One in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area;

One in the Ards and North Down Borough Council area;

Two in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area;

One in the Belfast City Council area;

Two in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area;

One in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area; and

One in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area.

I cannot be more precise in relation to their location as ‘Guidance within the National Protocol for the Handling, Transmission and Storage of Reservoir Information and Flood Maps (June 2018)’ prevents the release into the public domain of detail that may expose potential vulnerabilities in a reservoir.