Land collapse compromises structure of Rio Branco Water Treatment Plant II | Acre

Land collapse compromises the ETA II structure in Rio Branco

The population of Rio Branco is once again suffering from a lack of water. Collection is reduced at the Water Treatment Plant II (WTP II) due to a landslide that compromises the structure. As a result, water distribution is also affected.

Almost a month ago, residents of the capital faced problems with their water supply. In March, due to the flooding of the Acre River, water distribution was also reduced and even suspended because stations I and II had problems.

The teams from the Rio Branco Water and Sewage Service (Saerb) managed to complete the maintenance and reestablish collection and distribution around three weeks ago.

This week, again, ETA II once again presented structural problems. The station region has already faced three emergency situations due to ground movement, which compromised a substation and affected a new structure.

Saerb’s CEO, Enoque Pereira, explained that the soil at ETA II is unstable and the structure has already been removed from the site because of this. With the structure compromised, the director warned that water collection is in pre-collapse.

The supply was stopped at 9am on Monday (1) and is expected to return to normal this Tuesday (2). With the pre-collapsed structure, there are concerns about the water supply for 62% of the population of Rio Branco. “ETA I is preserved, normal production. ETA II, which produces a thousand liters, has reached zero. We are making a palliative, it does not guarantee the instability of the system and we are trying, in some way, to have an immediate appeal. We received a precarious structure from the state” , he highlighted.

The president mentioned some regions that had their supply compromised:

• Second District
• Part of Calafate
• Alphaville Residential

The other regions are supplied by ETA I. The situation at ETA II is worsened by the walkway leading to the tower, which has already sagged by more than one meter and caused more than 10% of the water collected to fail.

The director highlighted that the collapse also affected the adduction point, responsible for connecting the river pump to the lagoon, causing a displacement of more than two meters. The teams are looking for emergency solutions, including moving the intake to ETA I, a safer and more stable area.

“We need to make this change, but it is very expensive, we are trying to align some resources there in Brasília and, unfortunately, a state of emergency will be declared. This will be the fourth time, only in the capture process the State declared it twice and the municipality one. As it wasn’t resolved back then, it will be resolved now”, he said.

This Tuesday morning (2), the coordinator of Municipal Civil Defense, lieutenant colonel Cláudio Falcão, was at ETA II for an assessment of the structure.

The coordinator highlighted that there was a very rapid flow in the level of the Acre River. In less than a month, the waters dropped from 17.89 meters, the highest level recorded this year, to 4.48 meters this Tuesday. The river dropped more than 13 meters during this period.

“With this, it obviously dragged the soil here. On the same date last year, the river was over 17 meters high. It shows that we need to look for viable solutions to be able to supply water to Rio Branco”, he argued.