Water infrastructure maintenance in Caracas, Venezuela could total $110 billion

[GatoGordo]

Renewing water distribution network costs more than $ 110 billion
The system can not withstand the pressure or the flow rates and the valves are not calibrated to operate, specialists say. Communities look for alternative sources



By OLGALINDA PIMENTEL R | [e-mail]
JULY 2, 2018 07:30 AM | UPDATED ON JULY 2, 2018 11:19 AM


If the flow of 18,000 liters per second of potable water needed to supply all of its areas reached Caracas, the pipes would explode. The entire network, in some sections more than in others, shows deterioration, say engineers, based on careful monitoring. There is no official diagnosis of the state of the distribution that supplies the Greater Caracas,

"The lack of maintenance has been prolonged and the little that has been done, limited to corrective measures due to leaks and major breaks, has been insufficient," says Yuri Medina, head of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering at UCV.

A program of annual and progressive replacement of the obsolete sections would help to recover the regular supply, but there is no information that the government is planning it, specialists say. And they do not think he will either.

Renewing one meter of the 5 million and a half meters of pipe costs approximately 20 dollars, which means a total cost of 110 billion dollars, according to calculations by Norberto Bausson, former vice president of operations of Hidrocapital (1991-1998). "Thinking about replacing pipes with conventional methods is a utopia; It is very difficult because of the costs, the constructive and operational complications. The renewal depends on the financial and technical capacity you have, and you have to develop non-conventional (robotic) technologies to rehabilitate the networks. "

In addition, the substitution of important sections in complicated areas such as the center of Caracas, the main avenues or sites of high population density, requires that a diagnosis and measurement plan be drawn up beforehand.

-snip-

http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/servicios/renovar-red-distribucion-agua-cuesta-mas-110-millardos_242319

[lapfog_1]

1. cannot be 110 Billion

"Renewing one meter of the 5 million and a half meters of pipe costs approximately 20 dollars, which means a total cost of 110 billion dollars"

110 MILLION dollars, not billion.

However, this might be a currency exchange problem or even a problem of translation as I believe that our 1,000 is possibly one millon in Spanish.

in addition the population of Caracas is only 2 million people... so if the article would have you believe that new water pipes at a cost of $20 a meter would cost each and every person $55,000.

But even a cost of $55 per person will be a hardship in a country where they are killing pets for food.