by Chris Ashmore
RAINFALL is up over seven per cent over the past 20 years with wetter winters and drier summers, and this climate change must be taken into account when planning and designing new flood relief schemes, members of Donegal County Council have heard.
In an update on flood relief schemes in the county, Seamus Hopkins, the Council’s Senior Engineer, Water Capital and Environment Division, stated that the last 20 years have been the wettest in the past 300 years “so there is a measurable change in how climate change is impacting us.”
Donegal currently has 15 identified of the 119 Flood Relief Schemes (FRS) around the country under the present national plans, plus another one in Raphoe that was under a previous plan.
The Council has its own dedicated FRS unit which is 100% funded by the Office of Public Works.
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of national debate about flooding, with many people questioning the long time it takes to get flood relief projects completed.
However, as Mr. Hopkins outlined to councillors, it is a slow process due to the complexities of the issues that can arise.
“There is an awful lot of presentation and design in relation to the schemes,” he explained, noting that it is “not simply a building project. We have to understand the science and mechanics of water interacting with the landscape and the catchment (area) and that is complex.”
The topography of an area and the rainfall data must be taken into account, and various options may then be explored with very complex mathematical models applied.
“We have to look at climate change and adapt models accordingly,” he stated.
The Council is currently advancing flood relief projects in Glenties, Burnfoot, Castlefin, Downings, Ramelton, Buncrana and Ballybofey and Stranorlar, and also in Letterkenny and Donegal Town.
Several councillors have called for more local input into alleviating flooding issues while
Cllr Ciaran Brogan, Mayor of Letterkenny Municipal District Council, has requested more updates and communication on flood relief matters to be made available to local councillors at a Municipal District Council level.
Last week, the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran confirmed that €110 million has been committed to alleviate flooding issues in Donegal through a number of both major and minor works.
