According to LTV, more than 10 years ago a project was drawn up but never implemented to reconstruct the drainage networks in the Valteri, Melluži and Asari districts. These neighborhoods suffered the most from the floods. Moreover, no systematic routine maintenance work has been carried out in the last year and a half.
In Jūrmala, rainwater systems, including drainage ditches, have been managed by Jūrmala City Council since January 2023, but were previously maintained by the municipal company Jūrmala Water. "We had four people who really took care of these networks from morning to night - cleaning, mowing, once a month they went around the coast, cleaned all the outlets. When there was a big storm, after heavy rains, they reacted immediately, they drove where necessary, they also applied various techniques," Andis Rencis, Chairman of the Board of "Jūrmala Water", lists what they did in the past.
Since then, Jūrmala's stormwater and drainage systems have been neglected for a long time. Jūrmala City Council did not take over the staff of Jūrmala Water who carried out the routine maintenance, but the council had hardly any resources of its own.
In the newly created department, only four of the eight posts have been filled, and only one of them is a drainage engineer. "Those specialists who work on a daily basis, they have to deal with planning issues - first we plan what we do. To plan what to do we have to understand the current situation, and then when there are actual implementation works, we have one specialist at the moment. Plus in parallel we have to answer questions and applications from the residents, and prepare technical regulations," said Gundega Ose, Head of the Development Department of Jūrmala City Council.
There has been no outsourcing either. The most acute problems have been solved through contracts concluded for road maintenance. Only EUR 14,000 was spent on various works last year, compared to the budgeted amount of around EUR 400,000. The same is true for this year. The last scheduled inspection of drainage outlets at sea was in February this year.
In mid-May this year, almost a year and a half after taking over the infrastructure, Jūrmala signed its first contract - with Liktenis Ltd for emergency works on the drainage infrastructure. In mid-July, a contract was signed with Lautus Ltd for the inspection and flushing of these systems. Further contracts are planned for the routine maintenance of the stormwater systems, as well as for the maintenance of the pumping stations.
As De Facto reports, a project for the reconstruction of the drainage networks in the most flooded areas - Valteri, Melluži and Asari - was already developed in 2013. However, Jūrmala has not allocated money for these works.
Why were there no resources and no will? "First and foremost, the council has to provide for education, and education is the area that is the largest, and therefore the largest, part of the tax budget. There are social issues and the council does not have enough money for all of them," said the city council chair Rita Sproģe said.
At least €11 million is the estimate of the damage to the municipality's infrastructure after the rains. Add to that the damage to private properties. In addition, residents in many places looked for pumps themselves to escape the water. Jūrmala City Council wants to receive state aid to cover the costs of the floods, or at least the possibility not to contribute to the local government equalisation fund.
At least 847 signatures have been collected on the portal "Manabalss" for the improvement of storm water drainage systems, following a proposal by an opposition politician in Jūrmala.
