VISFRIM - Flooding works in Grabec (Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica)

As part of the VISFRIM project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the Interreg VA Italy-Slovenia 2014-2020 program, structural investments are underway to mitigate hydraulic risk in the Gradec area in the Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica.

It is one of the structural flood mitigation measures planned by the VISFRIM project to reduce flood risk in transboundary area, specifically in Miren, where 760 people live and 214 buildings, 10 cultural monuments (including 1 monument of national interest) and 87 economic subjects, with 778 employees, are located.

The main objective is to mitigate flood risk in Grabec, part of the urban area of Miren and one of the most flooded territories, by limiting potential damages coming from increasing water levels inside the Vipacco river. In detail the village is located along the old road connecting Trieste, near to the Italian state border.

The most exposed assets are:
- a group of old buildings located next to the Vipacco river, where a mill and a leather processing plant were previously located;
- the local/municipal road JP 759235, which is unusable during floods. The water intake was regulated by a dam, which however deteriorated over time.
- some structures located along the road crossing Vodmat and the Na potoku village.
On the whole 20 residential buildings and 7 farm buildings are at risk by considering a 100-year return period flood event for the Vipacco river.

The intervention will affect over 100 inhabitants and envisages:
- the construction of a new flood wall, 122 m long;
- the reconstruction of an existing flood wall, 28.0 m long;
- the construction of a stormwater sewer system, 127 m long, and a wastewater pumping station.

The total value of the investment is EUR 339.045,45. The project will be partly funded by the municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica (EUR 113.795,45‬) and partly by European Fund of regional development ERDF (EUR 225.250,00), under the Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia cross-border program 2014-2020.

Works started in December 2019 and, due to some delays in the delivery of building materials, should be completed by July 2020.