RAW SEWAGE HAS been spilling out into public areas of flats in Ballymun, with locals saying they have to walk through faeces to get to their homes.
The Druid and Knowth Court areas are the worst affected, with residents saying that the issue has been happening on-and-off since Christmas 2014.
“It’s unbelievable”
One local resident, who is a mother of several children, told TheJournal.ie:
“It’s unbelievable how bad it is.
We’re after being out here all morning and trying to clear it. There is faeces all over the court, it’s coming up in my garden and all over the pathway where you walk into the house.
The children being on holidays, you can’t really let them play outside.
She has lived in the flats for the past few years and said that the council unblocks and cleans the area when there is a blockage, but it tends to occur again days or weeks later.
She said she has seen “baby wipes coming up the shore”, but said “I know myself not to use certain things” and suggested children might be responsible for putting baby wipes down others’ toilets.
But she said that the residents believe long-standing issues with the pipes in the area are leading to the continued problems.
A spokesperson from Dublin City Council said yesterday that the sewage was being cleared that afternoon, adding:
The cause of the blockages is householders putting baby wipes, nappies and grease into the system. Letters have been distributed to the households in the area requesting that they do not do this in future.
“It’s just an ongoing problem that something needs to be done about,” said the resident. “There is obviously something wrong with the pipes.”
A spokesperson for the Druid Court Residents’ Association said the issue is bigger than items being put into the drains, and that “this is going to keep happening” due to the age of the drainage system.
Ongoing issues
Local Sinn Féin councillor Noeleen Reilly said:
Since Christmas this has been every week now. It seems to have really escalated. I report it every week.
You are walking through shit – it’s absolutely disgusting.
She said the council told her ”there is obviously a bigger problem here - they are saying people are putting things down the toilets”.
But she feels that as “it’s not as bad in any other court”, that “there is a fundamental problem with the pipes” in Druid and Knowth Court.
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