Rivers Agency

The Rivers Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). It is the statutory drainage and flood defence authority for Northern Ireland. DARD is the competent authority for the implementation of the EU Floods directive and has deligated the day to day delivery of the directive to the Rivers Agency. The Agency Headquarters is located at Hydebank in Belfast.

Vision The Agency’s vision is to manage the flood risk to facilitate the social, economic and environmental development of Northern Ireland.

Aims To support the vision the Agency aims:

• To reduce the risk to life and the damage to property from flooding from rivers and the sea
• To undertake watercourse and coastal flood management in a sustainable manner.

Objectives In support of these aims the Agency's objectives are to:

• To deliver sustainable flood risk management policies to meet society’s social, environmental and economic needs
• To implement the requirements of the European Directive for the assessment and management of flood risks
• To reduce the number of properties currently at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea
• To maintain flood defence and drainage infrastructure in a satisfactory condition
• To operate to resource limits
• To support and motivate all our people to achieve the Agency’s objectives
• To deliver quality services for our customers and stakeholders in a fair and equitable way

The Strategic Flood Map (NI) - Rivers & Sea was developed by Rivers Agency in co-operation with the Department of the Environment (DOE). The primary aim of the Strategic Flood Map is to provide an illustration of the areas throughout Northern Ireland that are estimated to be at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea. In December 2011 a new version of the map was released that refreshed the information on rivers and the sea, updated the historical information to include the latest flood events and for the first time it included a surface water flood layer.

The Map is designed to:

• Reduce flood risk by providing information on areas at risk.
• Encourage people living and working in areas prone to flooding to find out more and take appropriate action such as Flood mitigation.
• Inform anyone who wants to apply for planning permission if flooding is likely to be an important consideration.