Pipe blockage leads to sewage spillage

A CLONLARA resident has cried foul over sewerage blockages in a local authority estate, which have resulted in raw sewage seeping into his shed.
Billy Carey, 1 Derryvinna Estate, Clonlara was greeted with a stench from about six inches of water mixed with sewage in his backyard last Saturday. This is the second time this year he has been forced to put up with raw sewage on the property after a similar spillage on New Year’s Day.
Clare County Council sent out a sub-contractor to clean out the pipes and carry out preliminary investigation work.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Mr Carey claimed the problem has been ongoing for the last 34 years. He said it has never been fully resolved because he is the only resident who is being adversely affected by the blockages.
He believes that because his house is situated at the highest point in the estate, all the foul water and sewage comes back down to his property and spills out once it gets blocked in the mains pipe at a lower level further up the development.
He has called on the council to take up the mains pipe to free any blockages to eliminate this problem.
“The smell from the sewage on Saturday was unbelievable. My pipe is only about one and a half feet from the manhole cover and when the water in the sewer levels off, it can come back up to my house and spill into my backyard.
“I seem to be the only resident who has this problem. I want to get it resolved because it has been happening since I came here for the last 34 years. I am fed up with trying to deal with this problem,” he said.
In December 2006, he was hit with a rat infestation when vermin from an illegal dump near the Derryvinna Estate came onto his property.
Councillor Cathal Crowe has requested Clare County Council to urgently rectify the ongoing sewerage problems in the housing estate.
“For several years the mains sewer in Derryvinna has been problematic. Sewage begins to back up within the pipe network before surfacing in a number of back gardens.
“This happened most recently on Saturday evening, resulting in a large amount of raw sewage surfacing in a resident’s backyard. This foul smelling sewage is a contaminant and poses a real risk to public health,” he said.
Having raised the issue with the council on Monday, a work crew was immediately dispatched to unblock the sewer.
“I understand that a CCTV camera will now be fed through the pipe network to identify the root cause of the recurring blockages,” he added.