130,000 homes to face loss of water supply this week as major canal ruptures

North and Central Murcia to lose water supply this week.

 

A major rupture in the canal alto del Taibilla, up in the north of Murcia , will seriously affect supplies of domestic water to 130,000 homes in the Northwest and Central areas of the region.

Any areas which receive water from this source will be affected, whilst those serviced by the Trasvase- Segura , namely Lorca, Cartagena and Murcia will not.

 

The municipalities which will face loss of supply this week are;

Ferez, Socovos, Calasparra, Caravaca, Moratalla, Cehegin, Bullas, Mula, Albudeite, Campos del Rio, Pliego, Alhama de Murcia, Librilla, Fuente Librilla, and several districts of Totana.

 ( Update 6pm. Alhama have contacted to say they are linking their two municipal water deposits tonight which hold 10,000 cubic metres of water between them and this should adequately supply their citizens for the forseeable future,but they do request minimal use of water.)

Water supplies were stopped yesterday afternoon following the discovery of a large rupture in the important arterial canal, unfortunately in an inaccessible area, following heavy rains which caused a landslide, damaging the infrastructure of the waterway.

 

Works were commenced yesterday to cut a road through to the affected area, and install a temporary plastic supply pipe, but the damage needs major structural repair which will take some time.

Municipalities have been alerted to ensure that municipal reserves are full, and to implement limited supplies to their municipalities while the work is undertaken.

The normal format in these instances is to cut off suppliers for several hours a day, limiting the amount of hours water is available, so it's advisable to ensure that a few large bottles are filled up and kept in the garage to cover these hours of the day.

All municipalities have water reserve tanks of their own, but will be cautious about allowing their own stocks to run down too low, and surveyors assessing the damage yesterday said that it is too early to know how long it will take to repair the damage.

 

A new canal, the Cenajo-Moratalla has this last week received official approval for its construction, replacing this antiquated supply line with a newer, stronger canal with greater capacity, the intention being to avoid situations like this occurring again in the future.

 

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