Brian Hayes TD, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), today announced that Mott MacDonald Ireland have been appointed for a major study in the South Western River Basin District (RBD) catchment.
Minister Hayes said: "the study, the South Western Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) study, will identify and examine in detail the causes of flooding throughout the catchment and produce an integrated plan of specific measures to address the significant flood risk factors in a proactive and comprehensive way."
The South-Western RBD includes Counties Cork and Kerry and a portion of Counties Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick. The study area contains Cork City and a number of other large towns such as Killarney, Mallow and Bandon. Much of the study area is rural and used for agriculture. The study area also contains the Rivers Blackwater, Lee, Bandon, Maine, Laune and their associated tributaries, and over 1800 kms of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and the Celtic Sea.
The commissioning of Mott MacDonald Ireland is the fifth such commission awarded this year to carry out catchment studies under the CFRAM Programme. This latest commission follows the appointment of consultants to undertake studies of the Shannon, Eastern, South-Eastern and Western RBDs. The final RBDs to be studied under the CFRAM Programme are the North West and Neagh Bann RBDs, which will be commissioned as one contract by the end of the year.
Minister Hayes continued: "the study will examine all options to reduce flood risk, including both structural and non-structural measures and will also consider related environmental issues. Structural measures that will be considered may involve the construction of flood defences or increasing conveyance capacity where appropriate, while the range of non-structural options that will be explored will include measures such as the introduction of flood warning systems. There will be full consultation with individuals and organisations that have an interest, ranging from property owners, recreational users, the farming community and environmental stakeholders." , the Minister stated.
"I would urge all interested parties to contribute to the consultation process in order to ensure that the plan of measures that the study will produce will best represent their view of how flooding in the region should be addressed into the future"
The Minister concluded: "Pending the completion of the study, the OPW will continue to work with the Local Authorities involved, to identify and implement interim small-scale flood mitigation works through the Minor Works Scheme in areas at risk from flooding."
This CFRAM study is part of a programme being undertaken by the OPW, in line with current national flood policy and the EU Directive on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risk, which requires that such studies be completed for each catchment by the end of 2015. More detail is available on the website www.cfram.ie.