Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Kieran O’Donnell and the Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Paschal Fitzmaurice today announced that a planning application is being submitted to An Bord Pleanála this week to develop an interim flood relief scheme to pump water from Lough Funshinagh and to discharge the water to the Cross River, within the townland of Carrick in County Roscommon.
Minister O’Donnell says that having met with local residents and elected representatives in Roscommon on four occasions since taking office, he knows at first-hand how important this measure is.“We have engaged in intensive work with Roscommon County Council, engineering and environmental consultants and State Bodies to find a temporary solution ahead of this winter. Arrangements are in place with a specialist pumping firm to start pumping water from Lough Funshinagh within weeks, if planning consent is granted.”
The aim of the interim measures is to control the flow of water to the Cross River by extracting a sufficient volume of water from Lough Funshinagh, to mitigate the possible increase in water levels and limit the peak water level that allows the flood risk next winter to the properties around Lough Funshinagh to be better managed.
Minister O’Donnell believes this temporary pumping solution would help to mitigate any further escalation in the flood risk for those families located around Lough Funshinagh.
Roscommon County Council has submitted an application to the OPW to install enhanced Individual Property Protection measures.
The interim flood relief measures announced today will be in place until the permanent measures to manage the flood risk at Lough Funshinagh are completed. Roscommon County Council and the Steering Group for the Lough Funshinagh Project are continuing to submit an application for planning consent to complete the permanent solution that involves a 3km underground overflow pipeline from Lough Funshinagh to the River Shannon. This work is expected to take several more months to complete.
As part of the interim measures the Minister highlighted there will be ongoing monitoring of water levels in Lough Funshinagh and in the Cross River.
