€4m to be invested in Cork city's Atlantic Pond following flooding incident

Uisce Éireann has said it will invest €4m into the Atlantic Pond Pumping Station, following two days of flooding on the site in January.

However, a city councillor has said the water utility should meet with councillors in public following a recent in-committee meeting.

An Uisce Éireann spokesperson told The Echo: “The wastewater network operations clean-up cost for the penstock failure event was circa €100,000.

“This included the cost for two days of tankering and disinfection of the Monahan Rd and Centre Park Rd areas; hire and placement of four temporary ancillary pumps to over pump the closed penstock into the pumping station; and the labour cost of the Uisce Éireann and Cork City Council direct labour and contractor crews that were used to assist in managing the operations, temporary works, and traffic management on site.”

A figure of €250,000 for clean-up following the flooding had been given verbally to Labour councillor Peter Horgan in response to a question he asked at a recent meeting between Cork city councillors and senior Uisce Éireann staff.

The Uisce Éireann spokesperson said: “The €250,000 figure is in relation to the cleaning out of the foul sumps at Atlantic Pond Pumping Station and are capital works that are necessary because of the significant build-up of rags, grit, and other non-biodegradable material that is being flushed down through the public wastewater system. It is not related to the failure of the penstock valve.”

Mr Horgan had also been told that remedial works following the incident cost €1m, and that there was a further €3m capital investment to come, which the Uisce Éireann spokesperson confirmed.

The spokesperson explained that across January and into February of this year, the rainfall volume that fell in Cork was 300% higher than the annual average expected for the same period, and that the historic sewer system that flows into the Atlantic Pond Pumping Station “is a combined sewer system, subject to excessive loading from rainfall runoff and high tidal flow”.

“Uisce Éireann is investing over €4m in the Atlantic Pond Pumping Station; €1m has been allocated to immediate remedial works to improve hydraulic resilience and reduce dependence on the main inlet penstock,” the spokesperson added.

“A further €3m upgrade of the facility is set to begin in Q3, and this will include a comprehensive overhaul of all foul and storm pumps, reconfiguring of the main inlet penstock, cleaning storm sumps, remediating storm screens, and installing storm return pumping systems.”

Mr Horgan welcomed the detail, but queried why it was not provided to him in writing by the meeting, as he had submitted a question on it in advance.

He said: “I’m perplexed that Uisce Éireann could not give this breakdown as I requested six working days in advance of the special meeting on Monday evening.

“[Then], 48 hours-plus later, we receive a more detailed answer that still doesn’t fully address the issues that I raised as an elected representative.

“This needs further interrogation again either through the SPC [strategic policy committee] or another full meeting of council — this time in public.”