The hole in the collector of the Ribera del Marco de Cáceres was made intentionally

It was “an intentional action”, someone did it on purpose and possibly with the idea of ​​drawing water through a hose. It is the version offered by Canal de Isabel II, to TODAY’s queries, about the latest rupture of the Ribera del Marco collector. It is the second of which there is evidence in recent months, after the one that affected the river itself with the overflow of discharges last December. The fault has already been repaired by the workers sent by Canal, the company that has the concession for the comprehensive water service in Cáceres.

From the mercantile they indicated that it was a simple repair. “They had made a hole with maximum precision, the opening was perfectly outlined, so there is no doubt that it was something intentional,” said Canal. The previous time the intervention to solve the problem was more complicated. Both for the action that was carried out to cover the hole in the collector and for the difficulties of access. The location of these openings in the old Ribera collector is, separated by a few meters, in the Fuente Concejo area.

Sewer

«La Ribera is a sewer. We do not want to confront the institutions, but we do ask that action be taken and that it be done as soon as possible. Juan Ramos, biologist and teacher, has Ribera del Marco among his concerns. He is a member of the collective that bears the name of this enclave in the city and that presents itself as a group of Friends in defense of it. The activity of this association makes more sense than ever, in view of the state of advanced deterioration presented by the environmental corridor of the capital. A new breakage of the collector puts the focus on the administrative neglect that plagues that part of Cáceres, pending for decades of millionaire investments from the State that have never finished arriving. The most recent, and pending a tender from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, is the expansion of the Marco treatment plant.

After finding out about the last fracture of the collector, Amigos de la Ribera del Marco believes that the time has come for the central government to speed up the procedures and put the committed purification project on the table. «The collector breaks again in a critical area. It is the narrowest part and when the water gains strength it becomes clear that the collector is deteriorated and very old. The City Council is aware of all this”, reflects Juan Ramos. However, it has already been confirmed that on this occasion, more than an action of water pressure, the hole was produced by someone. Possibly, not so much as a purely vandalism action but with the idea of ​​extracting water, says Canal.

“Only with the involvement of the affected institutions will it be possible to solve this. Solutions need to be speeded up. This problem is beyond us. It also exceeds the City Council itself, ”says Juan Ramos. He believes that the old collector “must disappear, we have to get it out of there, bury it, whatever… but it should disappear for the good of Ribera.” “There are technical solutions,” he concludes.

“There are more breaks in the collector at other points, but they are not visible, since you have to go deep inside and they are areas of difficult access,” highlights this biologist who acts as spokesperson for Amigos de la Ribera in this matter. He emphasizes, in turn, that the regulations are not complied with and the distance of access to the channel is not respected. “There must be five meters of free passage and in the Ribera it does not happen,” he laments. This has become clear during the drafting of the new Special Plan for the Revitalization of the Architectural Heritage of Cáceres, the text of which is under review.

Amigos de la Ribera alludes to an environmental problem that causes the Cáceres river to suffer an outstanding deterioration that also increases with discharges into the riverbed when there are breaks in the collector. To this we must add that when it rains, the floods cause all kinds of waste and objects to emerge through the nine registered spillways. This situation can be seen in the rainy season in front of the Palace of Justice.