The president of the College of Civil Engineers of the State of Querétaro, Pablo Talamantes Contreras, warned about the urgent need to renew the hydraulic infrastructure in the downtown area of the city, where he said more than 50% of the water is lost due to leaks in obsolete collectors.
“It is a fundamental problem because the water we have is going out of control,” said Talamantes Contreras, who explained that the age of the collectors also contributes to the formation of sinkholes.
According to the head of the College of Civil Engineers, the accumulation of earth movements in the subsoil causes isolated subsidence, which represents a structural risk for the area.
The leader of the College of Engineers cited the case of Medellín, Colombia, where a partial renovation of the infrastructure was carried out, significantly reducing water loss.
“They made the change in 60% of the downtown area and it helped 80% to make the resource more efficient,” he explained.
Talamantes Contreras emphasized that the intervention in Querétaro should be based on a geophysical study that allows the identification of the most critical areas and determine an investment plan.
“It is necessary to carry out an analysis to understand the behavior of the subsoil and establish priorities in the renovation of the network,” he said.
The specialist warned that not addressing this problem in time could generate much higher costs in the future. He cited the case of San Juan del Río, where a project for flood control had an initial budget of 108 million pesos, but after a natural disaster, the investment rose to more than 250 million.
The call from the College of Civil Engineers is to municipal, state and federal authorities to join in the creation of an investment program that allows solving the problem in a comprehensive manner.
Source: oem
