While some municipalities fight against floods, others not only permit construction within areas at risk of flooding but also fight for the right to develop areas considered at risk of potential flooding, as reported by LTV programme De Facto.
Possibly in response to pressure from municipalities, including Jelgava, then the Minister of Environment Protection and Regional Development Artūrs Toms Plešs decided to halt two flood risk management orders last year, as reported by the programme.
In Garkalne a new village is being built in a place where Lielā and Mazā Jugla rivers meet. Future plans list 73 construction sectors closely packed together in a place where a pond was filled up and buried. According to the State Environment Service (VVD) believes it is not possible to perform construction around the pond’s area, as this would be in breach of Garkalne’s territory plan, construction rules and detailed plans, the programme reported.
Part of the area is well-covered, however, despite the fact that it is not the flood season, the meadow is full of water. «If wide-scale construction takes place here, this means people will require dams. They will ask protection against floods, but no dam, no restored melioration system, no embankment reduces the volume of water existing in the world. All this means that we increase the pressure on other territories that do not suffer from flooding at the moment,» says Latvian Nature Foundation expert Rūta Sniedze-Kretalova.
Territory plan for this area states that part of it is exceedingly humid and located a mere half a metre to metre above the water level in the river.
Additionally, the territory below the artificial embankment floods. There are plans to add layers of gravel to raise it a couple of metres higher.
De facto contacted the developer, pretending to be a potential buyer. In the conversation the representative of the company claimed there are no risks of flood. «Of course not! If there were any flood risks, no construction would be allowed there,» said the representative of the developer Kārlis Opincāns.
The decision to bury the pond, as well as other activities with real estate, were coordinated with Garkalne and Ropaži municipal councils. Development of the river protection zone went down from 100 m to 20 m, as the meadow has become part of Berģu village, which has other protection requirements. The municipal council has no information if the area is at risk of flooding. Ropaži municipal council’s Development Planning Office manager Sandra Čakāne referenced an expert that made the following conclusion: «Currently it is difficult what kind of data all of that is based on, but this report and its graphical portion do not outline the flooded area.»
Once the land is purchased, all potential risks become a problem for new owners and municipal administration. When asked if he knows that it is not allowed to fill flooded territories, the developer’s representative told De Facto: «It was allowed in the years when plans were being put together. This is exactly what was done in the end.» He claims all operations within those areas were done legally.
The environment service commenced an administrative violation case over unsorted construction waste being carried within the aforementioned territory. Similar problems were observed in the past. In addition, the environment service notes that people related to this project were previously caught committing illegalities with other real estate property projects in Garkalne. The extent of violations was so high, in fact, the service had to ask the State Police to step in.
«We need flood maps, and we need to use them to plan long-term and make sure everything is safe. If not, material damages turn out much higher, especially if structures are densely packed together, which is not the case if we have natural environments, such as floodplains, high swamps, floodplain forests – areas that can handle flooding,» says expert Sniedze-Kretalova.
The up-to-date flood map of Latvia cam be found on the website of Latvian State Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre.
«Maps are updated once every six years. Available information is updated and expanded in databases, municipalities are interviewed in regards to any changes over the course of this period of time. Once everything is updated, the information is registered in the model,» said LVĢMC Internal Waters Office representative Jānis Šīre.
Flood risk maps for Daugava, Gauja, Lielupe and Venta rivers and flood risk management plans for the next five years are documents approved by the Minister of Environment Protection and Regional Development. However, shortly before the end of his term in November 2022, Plešs decided to halt these documents. Municipal administrations had apparently asked him to do it as these documents interfered with development within their respective territories, the programme reports.
«Territories that were initially marked on the flood maps did not fit the reality at the time and forecasts suggested. As a result of that, a large portion of territories were previously marked as flooded, including enormous portions of cities,» ex-minister Plešs explained his position.
The State Environment Service used the flood map in decision-making and territory development plans. There were also negative reports in regards to plans to construct a legume protein factory in Jelgava and the continued development of a landfill.
State Environment Service’s director general Elita Baklāne-Ansberga confirmed that «this discussion commenced following multiple rejections from VVD. As I’ve mentioned, the use of these flood maps was unclear and VVD experts generally agree that other information sources are of higher value».
An explanation from the ministry came, stating that the map does not make it possible to consider any territory at risk of flooding in accordance with Protection Zone Law. «Until now our work was unnecessarily difficult in each separate situation, because it is necessary to evaluate, but we used this information every time we made decisions,» said Baklāne-Ansberga.
Despite the explanation that allows for the resolution of a previously dangerous situation in certain municipalities, the minister decided to put the flood map on hold. When asked if he still considers the decision correct, Plešs said: «I believe that based on the information we had, it was necessary to prevent uncertainties in the flood map.»
Now the document needs to be reviewed again by the new minister.
Although the risks of flood continue going up, municipal administrations continue requesting permission to reduce the threshold for risk.
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