Water supply problems in Caleta Olivia 2014

Origin

Once the first breakdown at Cerro Dragón (Dragon Hill) was repaired on 11 February, the aqueduct broke again near Valle Hermoso (Beautiful valley). This issue created a longer-lasting lack of water that affected the area until 17 February. The moment that the pipes were refilled with drinking water new punctures and cracks appeared at the Caleta Olivia area. This issue mainly occurred because when pipes are not carrying water inside they tend to contract; once the pressure of water returns the expansion of the tubes makes them burst. From 1999 the aqueduct accumulated more than 550 cracks and punctures in its 77 km section from Cerro Arenales (Arenales Hill) to Caleta Olivia. This damage was mainly caused by the low-quality materials used in the construction of the aqueduct. In Comodoro Rivadavia, the water supply is interrupted during weekends due to the high water consumption rates of industry, the Argentine Army, and the local population.

Dispute

The State Society of Public Services (“Servicios Públicos Sociedad del Estado” in Spanish) gave very little information about the incident. This provoked some 3,000 self-motivated people to protest, calling for the restoration of the precious water supply. The picketers carried banners, blocked streets and avenues, the Town Hall and the National Road number 3 (RN 3) at the city’s northern access. The residents who took part in the protest were demanding action from the Mayor to solve the problem. Most of the population had to use seawater to clean up their homes. After the debate between the Mayor and the people it was decided to keep the RN 3 blockade (main communication road for the east Patagonian region) until the governor of the Santa Cruz Province, Daniel Peralta reached Caleta Olivia to find a definitive solution to the conflict. Other problems were exacerbated by the lack of water: sewer systems collapsed, there was a lack of public transport, banks and public offices closed, hospitals provided just minimum services, and production at a few oil wells halted due to the strikes.

Aqueduct

The Jorge Carstens aqueduct promised 100 years of proper operation, with a capacity of 115 million litres per day. Since 1999 the issues that troubled normal functionality were:

This aqueduct area is usually visible from the Comodoro Rivadavia – Caleta Olivia motorway, which connects around 300,000 inhabitants, so every time a puncture occurs it is easy to locate. In 2013 an agreement was signed to improve the regional aqueduct system from Musters Lake – [Comodoro Rivadavia] – Rada Tilly – Caleta Olivia. The company responsible for this was the National Entity for Hydrological and Sanitation Works (in Spanish, "ENOHSA"). Mr. Lucio Tamburo presented the plans for the parallel aqueduct, assuring that it was estimated to be finished in between August and September. The plan he suggested was:

Emergency

On the 15th of February, due to the demonstrations and the lack of water, the Council declared the city under a state of “hydric emergency”. After this Daniel Peralta and the local government declared the same state for the entire province. The long lasting emergency caused the Argentine Army to increase efforts to supply the city population with drinking water. The local people, together with some local authorities, requested that the provincial government upgrade the status to disaster area.

Responses

The cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich said that “there were eight ruptures” in the aqueduct which “has issues and ruptures that are in process to be repaired, in the majority of districts”. The governor Daniel Peralta declared the city in water emergency on behalf of the province and said that he would request authorization from the legislature to draw credit for $140,000,000 to buy equipment, to build an aqueduct for the water wells at Cañadón Seco ("Dry Ravine") and for the construction of a [reverse osmosis plant] that will generate 5,000,000 litres of water per day. Fernando Cotillo, the vice-governor, criticised the townsfolk for their complaints and said that the roadblocks were doing no good to the problem; he also visited the affected area. The mayor of Caleta Olivia, José Manuel Córdoba, denied rumours of resignation and he criticised the people who took part in the RN 3 roadblock. He also announced that 900,000 m³ of water was to be distributed using 17 trucks. The city councillor Juan Erwin Bolívar Acuña Kunz said that he would ask for reports if the solutions did not reach the city. MP Estela Bubola criticised the government; she said that it was obscene to expend more than $20,000,000 on a party at El Calafate while in Caleta Olivia there is no water. She requested an urgent session for the provincial council legislature in Caleta Olivia. She also criticized the mayor of El Calafate. The provincial education council suspended all school activities for all of February at Caleta Olivia, Cañadón Seco, Jaramillo and Fitz Roy. ENOHSA informed on 20 February that the parallel aqueduct construction was 20% completed. The Council workers and employees union and the private oil workers of the Santa Cruz union requested the authorities to “face the problem”. The secretary of the latest union also complained about the oil drilling companies. The Council Assembly for Civil Protection wrote a letter to the governor requesting “his prompt intervention”. Omar Latini, the head of the Workers Party in Santa Cruz laid a charge of “unfulfillment of public servant duties” against the mayor, governor and his cabinet. A group of local people endorsed a request demanding the presence of Governor Peralta and requested to the Council an impeachment for the local mayor.

Aid

Due to the lack of water in the city, several companies, shops, unions and organizations sent bottled water and food to the city. A description of some of them is below:

Argentine Army