Section of flood wall to be removed for drainage works

A “short section of the flood wall” along The Quay area on Athlone's westside will be removed for several months in the New Year to facilitate the construction of a shaft for tunnelling as part of the €114 million Athlone Main Drainage Scheme, the Westmeath Independent can reveal.

Approximately ten metres or just over thirty feet of the finished wall, located behind Sean's Bar, which is part of the Athlone Flood Alleviation Scheme will be taken out to build a shaft to allow for the installation of a new tunnelled sewer crossing of the River Shannon.

The measure is part of the massive drainage works project currently underway in several areas of the town, which Uisce Éireann said will reduce the risk of sewer flooding in Athlone and eliminate non-compliant sewer overflows into the River Shannon.

However, the move is bound to incense the public who have long complained of the prolonged nature of the flood works in the town which took several years to complete and is now expected to cost €27m.

The flood project also caused major disruption in The Strand and Quay areas, both of which are adversely affected again as a result of Athlone Main Drainage project, and questions are bound to be asked why this part of the wall was put in place if it was known that would later have to be removed.

Temporary flood prevention measures will be put in place at the back of Sean's Bar/The Quay area for the duration of the works, Uisce Éireann has also confirmed to the Westmeath Independent.

The State utility said on Monday that the engineering teams working on the detailed design of the flood alleviation scheme, work on which began in 2017, and the drainage scheme had “worked closely due to the proximity of both projects”, and it was acknowledged that a short section of the flood wall would need to be removed for a short period of time. This was incorporated into the design of the flood wall, it said.

In September, tunnelling works started as part of the Athlone Main Drainage project, involving the installation of an additional 2.8km of new sewers to convey wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant.

In advance of the shaft construction in The Quay area, Uisce Éireann said service diversion works will begin on November 13 and run until December 22. There will be no impact to the flood wall during this element of the project.

“We will return in January to undertake construction of the shaft which requires the removal of a short section of the flood wall. This will take approximately 16 weeks to complete.

“Prior to the removal of the flood wall, temporary flood prevention measures will be installed to provide protection from any potential flood events. These measures will remain in place until the shaft works are complete and the flood wall reinstated,” Uisce Éireann said.

Through consultation with relevant state organisations an agreed reinstatement specification (for the wall) was built into the contract for the Uisce Éireann drainage scheme, it added, stressing that it is aware that upgrades to the water and wastewater network can be disruptive to the local community and thanked them for their patience on what it described as a critical infrastructure project.

At that stage, Uisce Éireann said the new pipeline is being installed using a technique called micro-tunnelling utilising a specialised Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which will minimise disruption to the local community, as a significant proportion of the construction will take place underground without the need for open-cut excavation.

The Office of Public Works has been contacted for comment on the changes to the flood scheme, which was funded by them, and led by Westmeath County Council.