Cork city manager seeks €21m for waterplant upgrade

THE Government should provide €21 million to upgrade Cork’s main water treatment plant, make it flood proof, and secure the city’s supply of drinking water, the city manager said last night.

An initial claim, estimated at some €10m, will be submitted to the Department of the Environment tomorrow to recoup costs it incurred while dealing with the aftermath of the flood crisis. The details emerged last night following a detailed review of the disaster, presented by city manager Joe Gavin, in which he made several recommendations.

The Lee Road water treatment plant was swamped in the early hours of November 20, the first time in its 150-year history, leaving 80,000 without water for a week.

Mr Gavin recommended the Department of the Environment should give approval and provide funding to enable the proposed upgrading of the water plant proceed.

“Part of the upgrading will involve constructing the plant room at a higher level to guard against flooding. The cost estimate is in the region of €18m,” he said.

But Mr Gavin said a further €3m will be needed to give greater security to the city’s drinking water supply. He said the city’s water is sourced from two separate plants which have their own distribution networks.

“There is no interlinking so that if there is a failure at one plant, the second plant cannot provide cover for that area affected and one half of the city suffers,” he said.

Mr Gavin said the city council should prioritise plans to link the two systems by bringing a mains pipe from the Wilton Road Roundabout to the Lee Road plant. He also recommended that efforts should be made to complete, as soon as possible, the Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study; a full examination of the city’s bridges and quay walls be completed; and that the Department of the Environment should provide €2m to repair breaches in the quay walls at Grenville Place and Sunday’s Well Road.