A spring has erupted on the public road outside my property...

RINO87

Who's Responsible??

With all the rain recently an underground spring has erupted on the public road outside my property. It's actually created a sizeable hole in the road, and water is constantly flowing from it. It's 100% not a water main as we are pretty rural.

Thing is the water is now flowing from the road, pooling right outside my property and now flowing in to the garden....its not a trickle, even in the dry!

Will I get any hop calling the council about this, or is it up to me to sort? Cars need to drive thru where its pooling and a gate and boundary wall are getting a pasting.

There is farmland next door, and I could attempt to redirect there, but obviously the owner of that land is not going to be happy either, and of course I wouldn't go at it without their permission.

Thoughts?

Kimbot

Irish Water??

Dav010

Of course the council have responsibility for the roads. Go into the council, bring a letter and get it signed for. Outline the danger it poses to motorists if it freezes and tell them they will be responsible for any accidents which occur as a result and you have documented proof that they were informed.

Wanderer78

council all the way, some nightmare.....best of luck

RINO87

Some pics for context:

This is the hole its left. The gate into our paddock is where its pooling

Wanderer78

thats a bit of a nightmare alright, council straight away, they know that pothole will grow quickly if left be....

The Continental Op

Have to ask if there is any mains water in your area as thats just the spot a leak would occur.

There also could have been a ditch there at some stage which has been piped and become blocked or just a drainage ditch that has got filled up.

About all the Council will do is dig a drain out into the nearest field and patch the hole.

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121570985#Comment_121570985

No mains here, we all have our own wells. Digging a drain in to the nearest field was my plan initially, but I cannot get hold of the landowner. I'm not directing a stream in to their land without talking it thru with them first.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571007#Comment_121571007

jesus dont do that, its a quick way to p1ss a neighbor off

Mickeroo

What's on the on the opposite side of the road to the hole behind the trees there? Could there be a drain coming off that land under the road that's gotten blocked up or something?

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571020#Comment_121571020

Oh for sure, no way am I directing that flow on to their land without permission!

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121570854#Comment_121570854

That is incorrect . Unless the Council carried out some work on this road and the work can be proven to be in some way deficient then the Council ( Joe and Joan Taxpayer ) cannot be held responsible.

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571038#Comment_121571038

There's an old laneway there with lots of little springs coming off it, they all flow in to a drain/ditch on that side of the road, they all still appear to be flowing. As in I can see the water running away, and not pooling anywhere on that side

KevRossi

Find out where your local roads depot is and contact them as well. There will be a roads engineer there. They are responsible for logistics and deciding which workers go where.

The depot responsible for your area is not necessarily the one in your county town.

Mention the size and depth of the hole. They are usually very quick to deal with incidents like this.

If they can't be reached then ring the county roads engineer ( or whatever its called these days).

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571020#Comment_121571020

Leave that to the Council. They've done that to me enough times in the past. Only reason they don't drain the road into my garden anymore is that they no longer bother maintaining the drains.

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121570969#Comment_121570969

Highly unlikely to be a spring . It would have shown up in previous wet spells if it was a spring. It is also at a significantly higher level than the surrounding land so something may have happened to prevent natural run off to lower lying adjoining field

RINO87

Thanks all - I'll keep trying to get hold of the landowner before I call the council. Hopefully we can take care of the flow of water and leave patching the hole up to roads dept.

tabby aspreme

Take a picture, and email it to the council, tell them cyclists and motorbikes regularly use the road, it's their responsibility to fix it

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571141#Comment_121571141

Call the council straight away, no reason to wait for the landowner, if they mess up his land with directing the water in there he can sort it out with them.

wildwillow

Council must take responsibility. Once we get frost it will be deadly. Had the same problem near here for years with several accidents.

very busy road. Put pressure on the council as a new house had greatly exacerbated the problem, causing new springs to open. It was piped a distance to a drain, road dug up because it had to be crossed.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121571051#Comment_121571051

Well said. It's a common misconception that notice to council = automatic liability from that point on.

I do agree they need to be told, and take timely action to remedy it.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121570826#Comment_121570826

:) :) LOL Irish Water have little or no remit in rural areas like this. It only serves towns and cities etc.

Council.. but we have holes like that about and it's quicker/ safer while waiting if local residents do something to mitigate. I regular enough put a bit of stone into potholes to take the worst of the depth and sharp edges off them. So when we don't see them, we don't wreck a tyre. And don't lecture me on liability, save your breath.

BorneTobyWilde

With all the rain that has fallen it's simply a problem that will fix itself, except for the pothole that is, it's just a flow of water, gravity dictates it path, It's obviously higher ground on other side

delboythedub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058329556/a-spring-has-erupted-on-the-public-road-outside-my-property

If you could test it for Chlorine in order to establish if it ground water or treated water. maybe phone your local council who may have a proper test kit or buy one yourself in a tropical fish shop like Seahorse Aquariums / Temu etc

RINO87

Update for anyone that cares......!

The landowner and myself let the water run in to a ditch along his land for the time being, as we reported to the council the next day and they agreed to come out and look.

Council arrived yesterday - it was indeed a culvert that had blocked, they opened it back up, but it was damaged and liable to block up again, plus they were not sure of where the water should go once off the road. That was just two lads. I got on to landowner as I can't imagine he would have been too happy with that, so he went up for a chat. He must have pulled a few strings as there has been a team of 6 and a JCB going at it all day today. Culvert repaired and re-covered, pothole filled, and the water directed back to its natural course along another ditch in his field.

We are very rural out here...I'm extremely impressed that the council acted so fast, and are making a decent go of it!

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597258#Comment_121597258

Which particular coco gets the praise?

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597366#Comment_121597366

Tipp