(The Collapsed section of the canal bank)
Repairing The Grand Canal – In this article, Ross Murray reports on the repair work on the Grand Canal at the Suir Road
The Grand Canal between Suir Road and Goldenbridge was recently drained of water due to a sewer fault. On Sunday 21st of July, a short section of 1.8 metre diameter sewer pipe collapsed, resulting in that section of canal being completely emptied of water by Monday evening. Irish Water, who were working on sewer main in the vicinity, immediately contacted Waterways Ireland and Inland Fisheries Ireland and reported the incident. Waterways Ireland issued a notice that the canal could not be navigated by boat and Inland Fisheries quickly mounted an operation to remove more than 1000 fish from the affected section. The footpath along the affected side was closed while a crane was brought in to place sandbags around the collapsed bank and by Friday evening on the 26th, a temporary dam had been erected.
Irish Water issued the following statement in regards to the incident “The canal bank at Devoy Road, Inchicore, was breached sometime in the early hours of Saturday/Sunday 20th/21th of July. A short section of the 1800mm diameter pipe traversing the canal to the Grand Canal Sewer partially collapsed causing the canal bank to collapse into the sewer and consequently drain the canal of water between the adjacent lock gates.
A Contractor was immediately engaged on an emergency basis to carry out the necessary works in consultation with Waterways Ireland in order to allow for reinstatement of canal flows as quickly as possible. To date, the canal has been dammed partially, to allow the canal water level downstream to be maintained whilst providing a safe working area for repair to the pipework
A detailed CCTV survey and visual inspection has been carried out on the 1800mm pipe in order to determine the most appropriate remedial works that need to be carried out. Due to the likely specialised nature of remedial works involved and the requirement to divert the large volume of sewer flows for the duration of the repair works, the precise timeframe for the completion of the repairs is still to be determined”.
(The temporary dam in place)
(The view looking west toward Goldenbridge)
(The view looking east)
(The view looking east. And very few bikes or rubbish spotted!)
(An endangered Egrit taking advantage of the low water)
