The landslides of the different streams along the Elqui Valley (Region of Coquimbo, Chile), after the storm last week, left more than 20 kilometres of intakes banked and about thirty automatic and manual intake gates submerged under large quantities of sludge and sediment, which prevents them from operating.
A landslide in the crops of Quebrada seca / Photography courtesy of JVRE
The Supervisory Board of the Elqui River (JVRE) stated that the producers were beginning to urgently need water to irrigate their crops because of the sustained high temperatures.
Although the rainfall was expected and it was of great assistance during the frontal system to the region, which has been facing a severe drought for several years, the irrigators at Elqui suffered serious damage to their water distribution systems.
The streams that generated the most damage were Marqueza, Leiva, La Culebra and Quebrada Seca, which damaged about 80% of the canals and sluices.
After a tour of the valley, the president of the Supervisory Board of the Rio Elqui, Mariela Arqueros Vargas, said they had gone all the way to the Rio Turbio sector and that there was actually a very big catastrophe there.
"We need many resources to enable our canals and the river again, the canals are all covered with mud and sediment, the gates are in the same conditions and we have to start working with government authorities, so they can help us, because the situation of our irrigators is very critical," she said.
The rainfall between March 23 and March 27 left 10 cm of snow and 47.5 mm of water in the sector of La Laguna, while the sector of Puclaro recorded rainfall totalling 36 mm. According to the General Directorate of Water (DGA) Rivadavia recorded 35.7 mm of water, Vicuña 40.1 mm, and La Serena 10.6 mm.
The JVRE said that despite this, water scarcity remained extremely critical, as could be clearly seen in the reservoir's state.
Specifically, La Laguna has a cumulative level of 16,863,311m³, 333,071m³ were due to these precipitations, a very low figure considering that the capacity of this reservoir is 37,500,000m³. Meanwhile, up to March 29, the Puclaro reservoir gained a little over 2,970,668m³ with precipitation, however its total level only amounts to 10,041,382m³, of which only 6,645,183m³ is useful. This reservoir can hold up to 200,000,000m³.
Raul Hate is the manager of Agricola Rivadavia and Agricola Valle Alto, "We recorded 81.5 mm of rainfall. Quebrada Seca came down hard with a lot of solid material, at least 4.5 km from the road to the bottom. We lost a house down there, but at least there where no victims," Hate said.
Meanwhile in the area of Huanta, where La Serpiente river flooded, there was a mudslide that dammed the river, forming a pool in the middle of the route that generated alert and people feared there would be a collapse, which fortunately did not happen.
The people of the sector, together with officials form Barrick, worked hard to enable a provisional road that runs through the property of Agricola Valle Alto, so that small vehicles and people on foot could transit with caution.
"The response of the authorities has been a little slow because, apparently, they can only connect via phone and radio, but my recommendation is that we have to take matters into our own hands, go see the problem to quantify what to do," Hate said.
"You can be told what the situation is phone and you might think it is serious or not, truth is you have to go see things in situ," he said.
Source: Agronota