ESB to increase water discharge at Parteen Weir as coastal areas on high alert

Comhrá

Can anyone tell me why the weir in Parteen needs to have it's flow increased as the levels of water in Lough Derg rise?

Is it how the dam at Ardnacrusha needs to be protected from the extra pressure of water in times of flood?

I am very interested in the science behind the workings but I can't find any good explanations for the workings of the Parteen weir anywhere online.



http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/storm-frank-esb-to-increase-water-discharge-at-parteen-weir-as-coastal-areas-on-high-alert-34320016.html

jmch81

From what I understand it's to do with the embankments along the canal to the dam. if the water goes to high it might damage them, too low they might fall in.

Poxyshamrock

jmch81 wrote: »

From what I understand it's to do with the embankments along the canal to the dam. if the water goes to high it might damage them, too low they might fall in.

The maximum Ardnacrush can take is 400 cubic metres per second. If there's 500 cubic metres, Parteen has to take 100. If it's 600, Parteen has to take 200.

Check out the image in this article: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/flooding-infographic-explains-river-shannon-flows-1.2466016

Clareman

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

The maximum Ardnacrush can take is 400 cubic metres per second. If there's 500 cubic metres, Parteen has to take 100. If it's 600, Parteen has to take 200.

Check out the image in this article: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/flooding-infographic-explains-river-shannon-flows-1.2466016

Great inforgraphic, thanks for that

phog

Bocktherobber wrote a piece on the role of Ardnacrusha on the Limerick floods. It might be of interest.

zulutango

The ESB have a lot to answer for. They keep the Lough Derg levels artificially high for generation purposes, i.e. the higher the water in Lough Derg, the more power can be generated at Ardnacrusha. This isn't a problem until heavy rains fall and they can't discharge the water quickly enough, and certain places get flooded. The flooding in Athlone could be due to this too, as there's only a very small fall between Lough Ree and Lough Derg (because the levels of Lough Derg are kept artificially high), and the water doesn't flow away from the Midlands as quickly as it could.

elastico

zulutango wrote: »

The ESB have a lot to answer for. They keep the Lough Derg levels artificially high for generation purposes, i.e. the higher the water in Lough Derg, the more power can be generated at Ardnacrusha. This isn't a problem until heavy rains fall and they can't discharge the water quickly enough, and certain places get flooded. The flooding in Athlone could be due to this too, as there's only a very small fall between Lough Ree and Lough Derg (because the levels of Lough Derg are kept artificially high), and the water doesn't flow away from the Midlands as quickly as it could.

Seeing as this is the Limerick thread, how many of these houses flooding on the lower Shannon (even the ones in Clare) were built after the power station opened?

There was somebody on complaining that her son brought a map home from school showing the house was built on a flood plain, and planning should never have been given.

Did this person check all this and engage an engineer before buying the house?

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

The ESB have a lot to answer for. They keep the Lough Derg levels artificially high for generation purposes, i.e. the higher the water in Lough Derg, the more power can be generated at Ardnacrusha. This isn't a problem until heavy rains fall and they can't discharge the water quickly enough, and certain places get flooded. The flooding in Athlone could be due to this too, as there's only a very small fall between Lough Ree and Lough Derg (because the levels of Lough Derg are kept artificially high), and the water doesn't flow away from the Midlands as quickly as it could.

If there was no Ardnacrusha then these areas would flood every year, as they're on the Shannons natural flood plain. The canal takes around 80% of the original flow of the river.

gctest50

Serious amount of gear :

According to Siemens, they imported the following:


6 Large multiple bucket dredgers on rails each about 220 tons
3 Large bank building machines on rails each about 240 tons
27 Smaller dredgers and shovel excavators on rails and caterpillars
130 Steam locomotives
8 Electric locomotives
31 Portable air compressors
13 Portable concrete mixers
8 Tower cranes
3 Cableways, each 310 m long
1,770 Railway wagons
20 Road trucks
31 Barges, trugs, launches and pontoons

from http://bocktherobber.com/2015/12/shannon-floods-at-limerick/

zulutango

Cookiemunster wrote: »

If there was no Ardnacrusha then these areas would flood every year, as they're on the Shannons natural flood plain. The canal takes around 80% of the original flow of the river.

Nobody is arguing for Ardnacrusha to be dismantled. It plays a positive role in preventing flooding, but its management is also responsible for flooding at certain times, and the current floods are due to high levels of rainfall not being discharged from the Shannon Basin quickly enough. Why can't they discharge quickly enough? Because the level of Lough Derg is kept high for the purposes of electricity generation. If the level was lowered coming into the winter Lough Derg would act as a buffer for the increased volumes of water flowing into it.

Poxyshamrock

How about we give some of our water to Dublin? :pac: