The Department of Infrastructure of the City Council of Orihuela and Hidraqua (concessionary company of the water and sanitation service) in order to maintain the sewage networks in optimal conditions before the arrival of the typical September rainfall, work intensifies, despite the fact that maintenance works are carried out throughout the year.
Ángel Noguera, adviser for infrastructures, explained that “the maintenance and cleaning works are based on the cleaning of the scuppers, the cleaning of the sewer network, the cleaning of the pumping installations and the inspection of the network with the planning, management and supervision of works through the use of IT tools, where the service facilities and operations carried out are digitized.
Cleaning the scupper
The municipality of Orihuela has a total of 3,759 scuppers and 2 annual campaigns are planned in which the whole area is cleaned, twice a year, during these months:
– April-May (1st campaign)
– August-September (2nd campaign)
The manual cleaning of each scupper is carried out, with an average of 100 units/day, with a work team made up of 2 operators.
There is also a pressurized water cleaning team with support if necessary from the mixed sewage truck.
cleaning net
The municipality of Orihuela has a total of 535 km of sewer and stormwater network at which preventive maintenance is performed.
“This cleaning is carried out every month of the year, but it is true that during the months when there is a greater probability of heavy rains which could cause problems, the emphasis is more on the cleaning of municipal networks of rainwater with provisions for the infrastructures are prepared to be able to evacuate the rainwater in the shortest possible time”, underlined Ángel Noguera.
In addition, before the forecast of heavy rains, a protocol of revision and preventive cleaning of the most conflicting points is activated, opening of scupper gratings to prevent clogging due to dragging and signaling of problem points.
Cleaning of pumping stations (EBARS)
Four scheduled cleaning campaigns are carried out annually at the 132 pumping stations that make up the municipality’s sanitation network.
In order to comply with these data, Orihuela has two sewage cleaning trucks (IEC), who work multiple shifts. In addition, equipment from external companies is also used due to the characteristics of the service’s piping and facilities, thus achieving service quality standards and ensuring continuous improvement management.
network control
CCTV
Network inspections are carried out with a television camera guided by remote control to inspect the wastewater and rainwater networks once the interior has been cleaned or in the part where an incident is detected in order to know the state of the infrastructures.
With this system, the state of the interior of the networks is reviewed in the records that are made for further study and, if necessary, carry out actions for their rehabilitation or replacement.
POLE
There is also a streetlight inspection team, which performs the inspection of the net before cleaning it. This system makes it possible to visualize the degree of soiling of the network, as well as any imperfections in it, to optimize the cleaning equipment as much as possible.
Annually, more than 60 days of network inspection are carried out with TV camera equipment.
Activity management
All planning for the maintenance and cleaning of existing infrastructure in Orihuela is carried out through the GALIA application and assigned to the corresponding cleaning or inspection teams. This tool allows:
– Assign these tasks to specific work teams for each job or activity.
– Control of the follow-up and progress of the work in real time.
– Collect information on each element (culverts, shafts, network sections…) such as cleaning date, initial state, final state… as well as graphic information (photographs) and capture of new or corrective elements on these.
– Create a history with the cleanings and inspections carried out to optimize the equipment as much as possible.
Works carried out with the funds for the renovation of the sewer and stormwater networks, improving the drainage of the sectors in recent years
Finally, in recent years, major investments have been made in the sewerage network to improve its reliability and hydraulic capacity.
– Replacement of the waste water collector in Camino Viejo de Molins street (€105,102.88)
– Replacement of the sewer network in Santiago and Capuchinos streets (€116,989.74)
– Replacement of the sewer network in Doctor García Rogel Avenue (€127,271.47)
– Replacement of the sewer network in Calle Almería de La Aparecida (€98,079.86)
– Replacement of the runoff collection system west of the urban area – Las Espeñetas neighborhood. (€116,360.6)
– Replacement of the sewage system around the Teatro Circo de Orihuela (€96,786.27)
– Replacement of the sewer network C/Cantalobos and San Antonio (El Mudamiento) (€138,829.78)
– Reform and improvement of the sewerage network in the neighborhood of Los Desamparados (€507,110.77)
– Replacement of the sewer network in Limón and Extremadura streets (€251,100.62)
– Replacement of the sewerage network around Travesía de Triana street (€186,476.5)
– Replacement of the sewage network in C/Masquefa (€69,233.29)
– Replacement of the waste water discharge and collector between the EBAR Santo Domingo and the access to the Orihuela Casco treatment plant (€819,543.22) Ongoing
-Replacement of the sewerage collector in the main streets Elisea, Malecon and Meca (€99,870.81) Ongoing
– Replacement of the waste water collector in c/ Ramón Sijé, Reales and La Paz (€93,611.33) In progress