Following the events that affected the normal supply of drinking water last weekend, this Wednesday morning, the mayor Francisco Azcué held a meeting with the comptroller of the Decentralized Sanitary Works Entity (EDOS) Javier Del Cerro and the Chief of Cabinet Eduardo Caminal.
The Mayor instructed the authorities of the aforementioned entity to present and make known to the general community, within a period not exceeding 10 days, a report on the current state of the city's drinking water distribution network and, primarily, of the sluice valves, which at first glance show a lack of maintenance in recent years.
“I have instructed the EDOS comptroller to work with his technical team to prepare a complete report on the situation of the drinking water network, but mainly on the state of the sluice valves, since their failure to function during the rupture of the main pipe that occurred in the vicinity of the access to the Castillo San Carlos forced the complete shutdown of the Water Treatment Plant,” remarked Azcué.
In that sense, he added that “it is of vital importance for our administration in particular, but for the entire community of Concordia, to know what the reality is and why the leaks and ruptures of the network happened and continue to happen.”
MAIN PIPE
Regarding the rupture of the main pipe at the exit of the Water Treatment Plant, EDOS explained that it was due to the natural wear and tear of the pipeline and ground movements. It is a 315 mm pipe that, due to the passage of time, could not withstand the aforementioned.
Given this situation, and having detected that none of the regulation sluice valves, which allow for sectorized service cuts, were working, it was necessary to stop the operation of the Water Treatment Plant to carry out the pertinent repairs.
If they could have been operated, it would not have been necessary to stop the plant and the city would not have suffered the consequences. When an attempt was made to use the valves, this was not possible due to a clear lack of maintenance.
SUBSEQUENT RUPTURES
After the repair of the main pipe was completed, thanks to the outstanding work of the EDOS technical team and operators, together with other areas of the Municipality, the service was normalized.
The fact that a large part of the network was empty caused the pipes to accumulate air bubbles inside, and as the water filled them with regulated pressure, ruptures occurred in other sectors of the city, such as in the vicinity of the Monument to the Woman and at Chabrillón street and Eva Perón Avenue.
The agency does not rule out that similar situations may repeat in the future, which is why it is important to have the most accurate information possible on the state of the valves and the network in order to design an investment plan that allows for the improvement of the existing infrastructure and ensures that the city of Concordia has a quality service without major interruptions.