Maintenance of hydrological infrastructures, key in the face of heavy rainfall events

Maintenance of hydrological infrastructures, key in the face of heavy rainfall events

Proper maintenance of hydraulic, hydrological, meteorological and water quality infrastructures is essential to mitigate the possible effects of extreme weather events. The digitization of assets and the collection of real-time data allow for more efficient management and informed decision making in the face of episodes such as the recent storm Jana.

Adasa is currently responsible for the maintenance of various hydrological, hydraulic, water quality and meteorological infrastructures in Catalonia.
An example is the Territorial Water Control System (SICAT) of the ACA (Agència Catalana de l'Aigua), the XEMA network and the RXAD network of the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya.

The importance of ensuring the correct state of these infrastructures becomes even more important when they have to offer the best service in the worst possible conditions.
Automated networks must be able to guarantee the monitoring of various parameters and continuous real-time follow-up.

A recent example of the relevance of having this quality service is found in the episodes of abundant rainfall and increased flow of rivers in Catalonia, such as, for example, that of the Ter as it passes through Girona due to the Jana squall.

In this case, the rain gauges in the area quantified how they exceeded the established thresholds, which caused the volume of flow to increase considerably.
As we can see in the following graphs published in the application AETR (Aigua en Temps Real) that the Catalan Water Agency has publicly available (aplicacions.aca.gencat.cat/aetr/vishid/#ara).

In most sections the flow quadrupled and in its passage through the city of Girona even multiplied by 5 the flow that it had in previous days.

Thanks to the weather forecast and the information extracted from the data obtained from these networks, Civil Protection activated the corresponding alerts.

 

Graph 1. Triplicated flow of the Ter river in Ripoll at that time.

 

Graph 2. Quadrupled flow of the Ter river as it passes through Sant Joan de les Abadesses.

 

Graph 3. In a short time, the flow of the Ter river increased exponentially as it passed through the city of Girona.

 

The maintenance of facilities is essential to achieve efficient and sustainable water management, especially in critical situations such as the detection of possible episodes of increased rainfall such as in times of water scarcity.

We can help you. Contact with us