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Update on Douglas/Togher Flood Relief Scheme, 9th October 2014

Public Information Day No. 2 for the Douglas and Togher Flood Relief Scheme was held yesterday in Nemo Rangers GAA Club.  The consultants for the scheme are Arup.  They will be in charge of the project from scoping through scheme selection and design to completion.

Togher:

  • Replace approx. 700 m of an existing series of pipes with a 3 m wide single box culvert.
  • This will start from above Southern Fruit and will extend down the hill and on just past Greenwood Estate.
  • Works on the road to install the culvert will be significant.  Because the culvert is so much wider than the existing pipes, services will have to be moved.
  • Where possible, every effort will be made to use car parks and private land rather than dig up the road.  If private ground is dug up, the owner will be compensated.
  • The entry structure and trash screen above Southern Fruit blocks regularly.  The entry structure will be remodelled and the trash screen will be replaced with a 2-stage screen.

Douglas:

  • The problem is occurring largely between Ravensdale and Church Road.  Bridges are undersized, water spills over the tops of the banks and then makes its way downhill to collect in Douglas village.
  • The proposed scheme will involve a mix of channel widening and flood defence walls.
  • There will be some small works at Donnybrook Commercial Centre but most of the works will take place at Ravensdale, Church Road and Church Street.
  • The trash screen in Ballybrack Woods will be upgraded.
  • Two bridges – one to the ICA Hall and the other serving the footpath/cyclepath as it comes onto Church Road – will be replaced.
  • The Church Road culvert is to be replaced.
  • Flood defence walls will be 1.1 m high.
  • The channel will be widened and deepened in the section of the river closest to Church Road.
  • The sides of the riverbank further downstream in the park may be regraded for added protection.
  • Flood defence walls will be erected at a small section of the Douglas Woollen Mills car park.  This is to protect against tidal flooding.

The scheme is being costed at €4-6 million.  These are preliminary estimates only.  When the final scheme design is ready, funding will be sought from the OPW.

The scheme is being designed to protect against the 1 in 100 year flood.

Project illustrations are available at www.douglasfrs.ie.