Almost half of the drinking water in the Greater Metropolitan Area of San José (GAM) is wasted. The water and sewer utility – the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), reports that 47% of the drinking water is lost through some 1.200 water leaks it attends to each month.
Sergio Núñez, assistant manager of Management System Services for the Metropolitan area, explains that that is the percentage of drinking water the utility cannot account for each month, leaked from hydrants, tanks, piping and lost through illegal connections.
The AyA’s water distribution network in the GAM is about 3.000 kilometres of piping, serving some 360.000 customers, consuming some 226.8 million litres of water each month, almost half of that it cannot charge for.
To locate leaks, other than the obvious watering pouring out a broken pipe, Núñez says the utility uses sound detectors to locate leaks in underground pipes that is not visible to the surface.
In the case of illegal connections, Núñez says the utility is constantly monitoring people taking water illegally and when detected, taking steps to get a legal connection or stop the flow of water.
Records show that the majority of leaks occur in Escazú, Santa Ana, Cuidad Colón on the west side of San José and Alajuelita on the south side.
Núñez explains the pipes in thse areas are very old and are being gradually replaced.
Source: CRHoy.com
In the area where I live, water-supply pipes are laid loosely in drainage ditches or barely under the surface (no more than 10cm) of the earth. I have personally repaired several of these exposed tubes when they have broken or separated. Besides the fact that tubes are not buried deeply enough, tubes that should not be exposed to sunlight are used and insufficient PVC cement is often used, leading to separation.
If I had waited for my municipality to repair the tubes, I would have been without water for many days each time, while the water I needed poured into the adjacent drainage ditch. Because of the frequency of these outages, I had a tower with a large tank erected, of course, at my expense. My municipality recently replaced the supply tubes in my area, but they still are on or near the surface. Often, when a car pulls to the side of the narrow road in front of my house (a numbered route) to let another vehicle pass from the opposite direction, it will break the tube laid along the edge of the pavement just below the surface. This was most recently repaired a few days ago, but it will be broken again within a couple of weeks. Whenever I drive the 2km to the local municipality, I encounter at least two places where there is a major leak in supply tubes. A friend of mine who lives in town two blocks from the department that repairs tubes had to wait a month after reporting a significant leak in an exposed tube in front of her house .
While I have reservations regarding the potability of the water supply (I boil all water I drink or use in food), this is extremely wasteful, especially since there are many places where people need that water (even here in CR). This is just one more piece of the infrastructure that is drastically in need of repair.