Water supply restored in Montserrat after two days of disruptions
Montserrat's urban centre went nearly two days without normalised drinking water, from Monday 3 to Tuesday 4 August, as a consequence of the construction works for the roundabout at the northern access to the municipality. After several interruptions and partial restorations, the service was definitively restored at around 7.30 pm on Tuesday, when, according to Veolia's Communications Department, valves were opened to fill the network, which is «gradually recovering pressure».
The cut originated from works to divert and replace a large-diameter arterial pipe supplying the entire urban centre. As the municipality's main pipeline, it has no alternative supply, which prolonged the impact of each incident.
The interruption was initially scheduled between 8.00 am and 3.00 pm on Monday 3 August. The complexity of the work extended the cut: although the service was partially restored during Monday afternoon, it was lost again overnight due to a problem in the new connection. Supply was recovered at around 8.30 am on Tuesday, but at 2.00 pm a new pressure-related incident occurred at the same point, forcing the service to be cut again. Work continued until 7.30 pm, when the definitive restoration was achieved.
The utility company explained that in this type of work an approximate cut-off time is given which «may be extended depending on the complexity and conditions of the work, as occurred in this case».
El Diari de Montserrat also contacted the Entitat Metropolitana de Serveis Hidràulics i Tractament d'Aigües (EMSHI) to determine the scope of the incident. The head of the Water Supply Service, Ricardo Triviño, confirmed that the roundabout works «do not correspond to the high-level water pipelines managed by EMSHI» and that the high-level supply to the municipality was available throughout the day without incident. Triviño explained that the route of the pipeline that EMSHI installed a couple of years ago in the area of the roundabout had already been coordinated with the Diputació de València, so the entity's infrastructure was not affected.
AI-generated illustrative image based on visual references of water infrastructure; it does not depict the Montserrat incident or works.
Sources: official channel of the Ajuntament de Montserrat, Communications Department of Veolia (Comunitat Valenciana), EMSHI Water Supply Service and verification of supply status by this newspaper.