In the wake of the widespread flooding in England, Renfrewshire
Council is about to put a £6.6 million contract for flood defences
out to tender. The North Renfrew Flood Scheme is designed to
protect around 1,000 homes beside the River Clyde.
The scheme involves building a pumping station and barriers to
cope with potential surge tides which could add two metres onto the
normal high tide level.
The scheme builds on £10 million worth of flood prevention
projects across Renfrewshire which includes work at Crosslee by
Houston; Collier Street, Johnstone; Moredun, Paisley and Kilbarchan
Burn.
These hard measures have been backed up by steps to ensure
drains, culverts and, in some cases, open watercourses are kept
clear and free-flowing.
Renfrewshire Council and its partners, Scottish Water and the
Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) have also won some
£400,000 from the European Union for a research and development
project on how land sheds water when it becomes water logged.
Vulnerable areas will also be mapped under the study.
Councillor Marie McGurk, Convener of the Environment and
Infrastructure Board, said, "Climate change means we are going to
be faced more and more with long periods of heavy rain and extreme
weather conditions like storms. Increasingly flooding is happening
because flat land surfaces, which normally soak up rain, become
water-logged. Once this happens, the water just runs off the land
causing flooding in nearby areas.
"The Cardell Road/Drive area in Paisley experienced this effect
in 2006. In the run-up to the floods on 13/14 December 2006 we had
42 days of non-stop rain. This was followed on 13/14 December by
the heaviest rain in 100 years."