A high range intervention is executed in the northwest system of water supply of Santiago de Cuba, a key infrastructure that guarantees the supply to most of the city’s population.
The tasks include the repair of great magnitude salideos and the integral rehabilitation of the Quintero Water Plant, with the purpose of stabilizing the service and raising the quality of the water received by the Santiagueros.
According to Report From Cubadebate, the actions began on October 2, with a scheduled technical strike of 48 hours aimed at attending five critical points where substantial losses were reported in the main drivers.
Danay Leyva, director of investment of hydraulic resources in the territory, said that, taking advantage of the pause, it was also decided to execute a capital rehabilitation in the Quintero 1 and Quintero 2 plants.
“This is a complete repair system to the water treatment plant,” said Leyva, who stressed that the works covered the deep cleaning of sedimenters and filters, as well as advances in system automation.
The official said that before the intervention the system operated with a demand of 400 liters per second, but the high sedimentation from the dead volume of the dam had filled the sedimenters, which reduced the efficiency of the purification process. Maintenance work seeks to improve infrastructure and guarantee a more stable and safe service.
The project has the joint participation of several entities, including the Hydraulic Resources System, the company Aguas Santiago – found in the exploitation of the Network – and several technical support mipymes, in addition to the Ecoa 57 brigades and Ecoi 11.
After the culmination of the most intense phase of repair, the Quintero plant has initiated the technological process that includes the stages of coagulation, decantation, filtration and disinfection, before returning the water to the distribution system.
This operation is developed in a particularly complex context. Although most of the rainfall of Santiago de Cuba registered more than 100 millimeters of rainfall in September, the province faces the most severe drought of the last decade, added to the frequent blackouts that interrupt the pumping and a damage accumulated in the hydraulic infrastructure.
The repair must represent an important step towards the recovery of a vital service for its inhabitants, in the midst of the climatic and energy difficulties that mark the daily life of the indomitable city.
