The Department of Transportation and Works says a photo circulating on social media showing a waterlogged area of land near the Health Sciences, does not show the location of the new adult mental health and addictions hospital.
Questions and concerns have been raised for some time about building the much-needed facility on a known flood plain.
(Photo via Brenda O’Reilly via Twitter.)
The photo, says a department official, shows the wetland—which will still be there after the hospital is constructed.
The hospital construction site is just out of the frame of the photo in circulation and is actually adjacent to the parking lot.
The department says considerable analysis by health professionals and engineers went into selecting the Health Sciences site as the best location to provide care for mental health patients. A contract valued at $1.9-million has been awarded to Bursey’s Excavating to build the berms at the site. Construction is expected to be completed this year.
The department says regardless of whether or not the mental health facility is built, the berms are still needed as the risk of flooding at the Health Sciences remains.
The berms will make the banks on each side of Leary’s Brook one to two metres higher in the area between Clinch Crescent east and west, preventing flooding downstream or at any nearby buildings.
The berms will mean that the construction of a new facility should not increase flood risks in the area, according to government officials.
