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[1] The Agency’s vision is to manage the flood risk to facilitate the social, economic and environmental development of Northern Ireland.
Aims[2] To support the vision the Agency aims:
Objectives[3] In support of these aims the Agency's objectives are to:
The Strategic Flood Map (NI)[4] - 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 lastest flood events and for the first time it included a surface water flood layer.[5]
The Map is designed to: