Lack of capacity within NI Water severely impacting the building of homes across city and district

NI Water representatives have been challenged about the agency’s “failure to invest in infrastructure” in the North West.

The robust exchanges took place at November’s meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Governance and Strategic Planning committee, on Tuesday afternoon.

They followed a presentation by NI Water representatives concerning discharges into Lough Foyle and economic and development constraints in the North West caused by the lack of water infrastructure.

Cllr Rory Farrell (SDLP) said the lack of capacity within NI Water was severely impacting the building of much-needed homes across the city and district. 

Responding to the NI Water representatives, the Ballyarnett councillor added: “There are 6,338 people [here] on the housing waiting list and in your pack today you are saying the lack of capacity is impacting 5,300 new homes being built in this area.

“They are needed and they are needed now and the sad reality is the failure [of NI Water] to invest in the North West over the years is really, really impacting that. 

“Everybody says there has been historic underinvestment in NI Water across the North but it has particularly stark here in Derry city and Strabane. Since 2015, Derry and Strabane has the third lowest level of investment of all council areas across the North. 

“When you look at it as per head of population, we get the second lowest level of investment. Since 2015, it has been £370 per person. Antrim and Newtownabbey have £650 per person, so we got £55 million since 2015. If we get the same level of funding per head of population as Antrim and Newtownabbey, we would have £100 million worth of investment,” said Cllr Farrell.

He added that if NI Water needed an argument to invest in Derry, the £15 million for the pumping station [to service the Cashel development on the H2 lands between Ballymagroarty and Coshquin] should be a priority.

“Those are figures you can quote because this needs to happen and it needs to happen now,” said Cllr Farrell.

“We understand the budget pressures in Stormont but for the last nine years we have been bottom of the pile,” he added.

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NI Water also received criticism from councillors regarding the discharge of stormwater and sewage into the River Foyle.

During the NI Water presentation, it emerged the Department of Infrastructure agency had 63 storm overflow pipes within the city area - 52 (83%) of which have been classed as “unsatisfactory”.

The NI water representative said through modelling, it estimated that 1.4 to 1.5 million cubic metres of dilute sewage on an annual basis may be discharged from those storm overflows into the Lough Foyle catchment, through local water courses.

People Before Profit councillor, Shaun Harkin said there was “a lot of concern and deep interest” about the “lack of funding for water infrastructure” in the city and district.

He added: “You don’t see any prospect of the overarching fixing of our infrastructure. You are basically describing doing firefighting for the next number of years.

NI Water map showing Predicted Spill Volume into the River Foyle.

“The other issue is when we try to hold anybody accountable for damage to our environment, when we have NI Water and the Department allowing it to happen, what sort of message does that send out? It sounds like that will actually undermine our efforts to protect our environment.”

A spokesperson for NI Water said the meeting highlighted it was “working through the potential outcomes of the allocated budget from the Department of Infrastructure  to identify which asset investments may progress”.

They added: “An overview was provided on storm overflows in the Lough Foyle catchment, as well as economic and development constraints. 

NI Water’s Director of Engineering and Sustainability, Dr Gary Curran said: “NI Water welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with councils and developers to align this, where possible, with the Council’s ambitions for the people in their area.

 He added: “NI Water’s goal in the council area is to ensure there is a modern, efficient service today and in the future.

“These services play a pivotal role in protecting NI’s environment and growing the economy. Locally this includes a number of capital projects in the Derry City and Strabane District Council, including the Foyle Street Works.

“It is recognised that a capital investment programme of at least £0.5bn per annum will be needed for the next ten years to meet the current and rising environmental standards and facilitate economic development. 

“This level of investment is reflected in the Utility Regulators Mid Term Review Assessment of PC21 [the fourth price control period: April 2021 to March 2027].”