A total of 29 works to supply the Port's needs
Seapal Vallarta is carrying out works in 29 different points of the port with an investment of 110 million pesos in order to speed up the water supply where it has been affected. It is also carrying out extensions and modernization of the supply network in order to make its processes more efficient, after having qualified workers and recently with the advice of a group of experts from Israel. One of the works of great magnitude that is being carried out these days is a dam at the confluence of the Ameca and Mascota rivers, at the height of the so-called radial well, which involves an investment of 17 million pesos, informed Alonso García Armenta, director of Water Studies and Projects at the water operator. The expert explained that a complementary work with gabions in seven levels in the bed of these rivers, will allow to capture 250 liters of water per second with which it is expected to improve the distribution and supply of water in the colonies where the service has failed, for example, in colonies of the Coapinole, in the high and center of the delegation El Pitillal, as well as in Ixtapa and north of the municipality.
SEAPAL REPAIRS FAULTS In turn, the director of the water utility, Salvador Llamas, said that "we want the population to be aware that in Seapal we are working intensively, 24 hours a day, to repair faults". THERE IS LESS WATER However, the technician of the water operator, clarified that the capacity of water intake and outflow of the radial well which is shallow - between 10 and 13 meters - has decreased naturally and considerably, since 2000 when it began operations, at the beginning it provided 750 liters of water per second, today only 110 liters flow and will be sought with new catchments that are 250 liters in the coming weeks. But it is a fact, said the official, that due to various factors, many of them natural, and some human, there is less water flowing in the region. The Operations Director of Seapal Vallarta, Rigoberto Velázquez Navarro, informed that the sieving or extraction of stone materials from the beds of the Ameca and Mascota rivers has affected the riverbeds and therefore the water catchment in the radial well, for which reason they will try to make those who are engaged in this activity aware of the need to modify certain procedures.
EXPERT ADVICE In addition, in order to have a first class professional work in the actions being carried out, the water operator is relying on a group of experts from Israel who have studied the characteristics of water supply and distribution in the port, with the objective of offering viable proposals to correct the deficiencies and substantially improve the service as soon as possible. The Israeli experts, hydraulic engineers, are making a field visit this week to the agency's facilities, the radial wells, the pumping centers and several other places to present a report on the improvements that can be made based on the technical and human resources available, and to make a proposal for modernizork with the experts has been carried out remotely, but in these days they will make the tours to offer a diagnosis with proposals for solutions to the problem this Wednesday afternoon February 16th in a hotel in Marina Vallarta. THE DIAGNOSIS So far the water supply has been rationalized in the neighborhoods of Coapinole, in the upper part of El Pitillal. For the time being they have had to close the water supply tank in order to fill it up, otherwise due to its low level it would only supply certain neighborhoods and it is intended to supply all of them. To the south of the port, in the Conchas Chinas and Amapas neighborhoods, the water supply was affected by a landslide on Santa Barbara Street which broke the 10-inch pipe, but work is already underway and it will be replaced within 3 weeks at the latest to normalize the service. In the center of the city, the failures were caused by the rupture of the 10-inch pipe which was carried away by the current of the Cuale river in the early morning of August 30 last year, when it overflowed due to hurricane "Nora", but 4-inch pipelines are already being introduced on an emergency basis. There have also been failures caused by power outages, and they are fixing damages to well 19 located at the curve of the International Airport, a facility that was affected by a car crash. CALL TO CONSCIENCE For the time being, the important thing is to take better care of the water, since nature is giving us signs that the uptake of the liquid has been lower. We can no longer and should no longer think that this region is rich in water, the new human settlements, the natural growth of the population have generated a greater demand, to this we must add a lower amount of rainfall and the depletion of water resources.