Cork City Council has been refunded the €3.1million we spent during the flooding in November. At a recent council meeting, City Manager, Joe Gavin said the monies were refunded to the Council by the Department of the Environment. The council spent:
- €1.8million repairing the Lee Road Water Treatment plant
- €443,000 on temporary accommodation
- €315,000 providing water throughout the City
- €193,000 making the quay walls safe
- €102,578 cleaning and repairing flooded homes.
Cork City Council is currently in discussions with the Department in relation to funding the upgrade of the Lee Road plant to move it to a higher level and build a water pipe to connect the Lee Road with the county supply on the south side of the city.
This week the Office of Public Works will launch for Public Consultation, the Draft Lee Catchment Flood Risk Management Plan. This is a detailed assessment of the threat posed and appropriate management mechanisms for flooding from the river Lee.
This major pilot project is managed by the Office of Public Works in conjunction with Cork City Council and Cork County Council. As part of the project an international engineering consultant (Halcrow) has been commissioned to carry out a comprehensive review of both riverine and tidal flooding for the river Lee and estuary.
Amongst the threat scenarios considered are those arising from climate change including changes in weather and possible increases in sea level. In addressing the management of the threat, consideration has been given to various options including flood warning, bank height increase, demountable barriers, tidal barriers (barrages) and discrete localized defences.
This major project, commenced in mid 2006 is nearing completion. For further information on the public consultation of this report, please feel free to contact me.
