In the island’s water supply system there are more than 1,200 pipelines that run 4,000 kilometers, of which 36 are main pipelines, such as those that run from Vergara I and II.
The Hydrological Plan from Tenerife reflects that The island’s water transport network system is made up of a complex network of more than 1,200 pipes that run a total of 4,000 kilometers to bring drinking water to the vast majority of inhabited corners. Only 36 of these more than 1,200 pipes are considered main conduits that, through some 755 kilometers, are responsible for transferring large amounts of water. These 36 include the three branches of the Vergara canal, which total 75 kilometers built 60 years ago to connect the gallery with the highest flow of Canary Islands With the general system, a true water artery for Tenerife, capable of supplying between 200,000 and 300,000 meters for homes and businesses.
Directly from the heart of the island, about 3,305 meters deep, Vergara I is capable of generating almost 2,000 water pipes per hour, to which are added more than 200 that come out of Vergara II. A total of 2,200 pipes per hour, the equivalent of more than a million liters of water or, in other words, 132,000 eight-liter jugs every hour. A huge flow that since 1961 has been channeled to Guía de Isora, La Guancha and Los Realejos through a great engineering project whose maintenance requires constant visits “meter by meter”.
The longest conduction of the Vergara channel, of 47 kilometers, goes from La Guancha to Guía de Isora and continues through the rest of the South through other connections, such as the Guía-Tejina channel. The one that reaches Chanajiga, in Los Realejos, measures 17 kilometers and there it joins the Canal del Norte that supplies the Valley of La Orotava, Acentejo and part of the metropolitan area. The smallest branch, 11 kilometers long, goes down to La Guancha to supply this and other towns in the northwest. In total there are 75 kilometers of a concrete channel, rectangular in structure, mostly covered by slabs.
The Vergara channel runs through mountain areas and one of the most spectacular landscapes in Tenerife, between the ashes of the Trevejo volcano, which destroyed the port of Garachico in 1706, and the Chinyero streams, the last eruption in Tenerife, in 1909.
Jesús Manuel Álvarez González is the canal manager and responsible for the Vergara I and II galleries, and for the Vergara canal itself, which runs continuously throughout the year to repair the damage caused by vegetation and, above all, its roots; the passage of time, since it was built in 1961; landslides, or human intervention in the form of recklessness, such as walking on slabs, which can break; particular interests such as catching water or letting it out to water animals or attracting mouflon and hunting them, or simple sabotage.
Álvarez, who works together with his son Jorge Álvarez Reyes, details that maintenance is a continuous and endless work, which sometimes forces people to move to remote places at dawn to resolve incidents. The use of sensors and new technologies now makes it possible to limit leaks and problems important in three sections. That helps, but it is still necessary to travel kilometers of canal to find problems of human or natural origin.
Pine roots, vinegars and brooms can be a real headache. Álvarez points out that he is still surprised by the ability of the roots to find water and penetrate the canal “through the slightest fissure.” When they find it, “sometimes after traveling more than five meters along the canal”, they expand, creating authentic networks of roots that have come to exceed 30 meters in length. In addition, when they retire, “the usual thing is that in a year or two they reappear in the same place.” As if they have memory.
Rockfalls can also cause major damage in seconds, and it is necessary to intervene and rebuild immediately to avoid the loss of millions of liters of water. Precisely in the vicinity of the Trevejo volcano, in an area that the channel crosses between mountains of gravel, Álvarez had to act years ago to free the channel of hundreds of kilos of pyroclasts that “plugged it due to a landslide.”
Regarding the risk of sabotage or contamination, Álvarez considers that the large flow that drags the canal and the treatment stations where it ends make any action of this type difficult. “The water always ends up in the treatment plants, where it is analyzed and treated, so any incident could be detected quickly,” he details. Along the route, Álvarez has taken advantage of minimal water leaks to establish drinking fountains for the fauna. There are also manholes with lids so that water can be taken in case of emergency, although he strongly requests that they “always be left closed, since it is very easy for animals to die there if they come to drink due to the force of the current, and that we want to avoid it.
