BUILDING a container terminal in Cork Harbour could increase the city's risk of flooding, an expert warned yesterday.
Hydrogeologist Shane Bennett told a Bord Pleanála hearing that if the €226m project is built at Oyster Bank in Ringaskiddy, water levels upstream will rise.
Port of Cork experts dispute this but Mr Bennett said that he disagrees with their evidence.
He said infill work to build the terminal would affect underwater channels which govern complex tidal and eddy flows in and out of the harbour.
The flow of water out of the harbour would be impeded, resulting in higher water levels closer to the city, he said.
Higher water levels, when combined with spring tides and south-easterly storm surges upriver, could put the city's docklands area, which is built on an urban polder, at risk of flooding.
The flood waters could flow up to two kilometres inland, he added.
Eoin English
Irish Examiner
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