Rivers and flooding

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (now Department for Infrastructure) introduced the Reservoirs Bill in the Assembly in early 2014 for the regulation of reservoir safety in Northern Ireland.

DfI Rivers Hydrometric Section monitors water levels for rivers, sea and loughs at approximately 130 locations across Northern Ireland.

The Drainage Council (‘the Council’) for Northern Ireland is a non-Departmental Public Body constituted under the Drainage (NI) Order 1973. The Council has a general scrutiny role in relation to the Department’s drainage functions, and has a statutory duty to ensure uniformity of treatment of drainage throughout Northern Ireland.

As well as major multi-million pound projects to provide flood protection to residential and commercial properties the DfI Rivers also maintains sea defences and drainage structures.

Protecting the community from the risk and impact of flooding is at the heart of the European Floods Directive. Introduced in 2009, it provides a new approach to managing flood risk on a catchment wide scale.

Flood Maps (NI) is an interactive map-viewer that enables users to access the latest flood hazard information available from government.