Proposed motorway prompts flooding fears

THE flooding implications of constructing a new motorway, estimated to cost between €100 and €120 million, have prompted a local couple to condemn the proposal as “madness”.
Pat and Caroline O’Brien, who live near the Clare campus of the University of Limerick, have highlighted the huge flooding risk by constructing Phase Two of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road from Knockalisheen to Annacotty for landowners and residents in the locality.
The couple, who reside at Shravokee, Clonlara, are worried about the impact of building any structure across one of the principal flood plains of the River Shannon, already designated as a Special Area of Conservation.
Commenting on areas where flooding has occurred, Clare County Council senior engineer Tom Tiernan recently explained the council has a responsibility to design in such a way that any flood risk that pertains to a particular area is not exacerbated as a result of the construction and this must be facilitated in the design approach.
Regarding the suggestion that a guarantee should be given that flooding would never occur again after the dual carriageway is constructed, he noted this is a road scheme, not a flood relief scheme and so resolution of flooding problems is not part of the authority’s strategy.
The River Shannon drains 15,000 square kilometres of land, representing one-fifth of the landmass in Ireland.
During periods of heavy rainfall, the volume of water in the river can increase quickly and dramatically, with floodplains acting as reservoirs or “sponges” for this excess water, thereby alleviating the risk of flooding downriver.
Floodplains have been described by Frank Mitchell, one of Ireland’s premier landscape experts, as “an unsoiled wetland with its accompanying wildlife – a local, national and international treasure”.
According to the O’Briens, the river continues to flood annually and, within hours, low-level farmland with cattle grazing can be transformed into a huge lake with cattle replaced by swans.
If constructed, they warned this development would become the first permanent structure on this floodplain, despite millennia of human activity in the locality.
“Any increased flooding on this floodplain would be catastrophic for adjacent properties, as even the slightest increase in the flood levels would inundate buildings.
“To ensure this road will not increase the threat of flooding, Clare County Council will have to build an obtrusive and elevated roadway over a two-kilometre stretch. Excavation of the River Shannon has been described by Frank Mitchell as ‘the sight of a great excavator crawling up and down a river bed, thereby ruining the landscape by degrading the river to the status of a half-filled canal, destroying its fish and piling topsoil-banks along its margins’,” they stated.
In 2009, the couple wrote to the council expressing concern about the increased risk of flooding that a proposed sports development by the University of Limerick would cause near its Clare campus.
Despite their observations, full planning permission for the development was granted.
Subsequently, UL officials, their senior engineers and consultant hydrologists met with the couple to discuss their concerns.
At this meeting, they explained the hydrology of the various flood plains and how the UL development was planned to meet the strictest criteria to avoid the possibility of flooding.
In correspondence with the couple, UL stated, “The statistics relating to 100-year-flood data are those relied on by the university in determining the location of new buildings on the campus and are also generally accepted design standards for buildings in terms of non-tidal, river flood levels”.
However, the couple recalled that weeks later one of the university’s recently constructed buildings was flooded, despite assurances from the experts.
They claimed this motorway doesn’t meet OPW guidelines, which state “development that is sensitive to the effects of flooding will generally not be permitted in flood-prone or marginal areas”.
They argue that any proposal to build a road on this floodplain before the publication of the Shannon Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study (CFRAMS) is “irresponsibly premature”.
They also pointed out this issue could indirectly affect everyone in Clare.
“The next time a Clare person is advised that the Government or local authority doesn’t have the funds to repair the pot holes on their road, to pay the carers, SNAs, teachers and nurses in their school or hospital, they might ask how they can envisage spending €120m on a road that few people need or want, a road that nobody can afford,” they concluded.