Epmaps records an average of 82 daily water leaks in Quito

The drinking water drawing paths through the streets and sidewalks of Quito due leaks in your pipes It has become a difficult problem for the Metropolitan Public Company for Drinking Water and Sanitation (Epmaps-Agua de Quito).

According to the current manager of the company, Othon Zevallos in the capital it is calculated more than 30,000 leaks per year. This is equivalent to an average of 82 daily reports and close to 4 million cubic meters lost or that generate other problems in the city.

Zevallos explained that the most fugues do not correspond to matrix lines (large pipes) but to the poorly constructed household drinking water connections or with bad materials.

“This is abnormal, excessive, the problem lies in home connections, that is, from the main tube to the home. There these damages are reported by a series of small bad practices, poor technical specifications, inadequate materials, poor construction processes, sometimes there are irresponsible contractors who do not do their quality work, sometimes careless in the inspection. In other words, a chain of bad practices that I have to correct so that the number of leaks decreases,” he said.

Despite the number of leaks, according to the manager, the losses of approximately 30% are lower compared to the national level he pointed out is at 42%. He also said that there are cities in the country that reach 80% loss or Guayaquil that would be close to 60%. “These percentages are part of unaccounted for water, which has two types of affectations: technical and commercial”, he argued.

care plan

“We have contracts for operation and maintenance, home connections, we already have fuel to move, our machinery is being attended to, we have contracts for its repairs, because we had nothing, I found a semi-paralyzed company”Zevallos emphasized.

Although he accepted that they still have dammed home connections and leaks that take time to attend to, He pointed out that corrective actions have already been taken. Epmaps has earmarked $1,200,000 plus VAT for maintenance of the distribution system including leak repair. This is divided into five smaller contracts.

In addition, they have been awarded two contracts divided by zones for the installation of home connections for drinking water, sewerage and meters. The first contract amounts to $767,222.62 and the other amount is $767,164.23.

Othon Zevallos stressed that in a balance the drinking water network is good, in the sense that the Most of Quito’s main lines are made of steel and those with a smaller diameter made of PVC. “Very few, perhaps 2%, are made of asbestos cement, which do cause problems because they are more than 30 years old since they were installed and they do break easily,” he added.

In addition, he announced the forthcoming hiring of a modern remote detection system for leaks in drinking water networks, that through satellite images will allow to identify the level of humidity in the soil, that is, possible leaks that will be attended to more quickly. The contract has a value of $61,000 including VAT and will be financed with funds from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). (I)