The month of July represents one of the seasons with the highest demand for the Yucatan Water and Sewerage Board (Japay) due to the increase in temperatures, water consumption, and frequent power outages. Despite these challenges, the state agency works to guarantee service to its more than 380 thousand customers, as stated by its director-general, Carlos Castillo Sosa.
How many customers does Japay have?
Currently, we have a customer base that exceeds 380 thousand users, the vast majority of whom are up to date with their payment for the supply of drinking water to their homes.
How is the demand for the service?
July is a month characterized by low water pressure due to the rise in temperatures. The hot season causes a daily increase in drinking water consumption of between 10 and 20 percent in households.
Is that why water pressure decreases?
The issue of low water pressure is often also due to the lack of electrical power supply. It is essential to remember that all our equipment operates using this service. For example, last week, we had a failure in the Montecarlo pumping station, and as a result, properties without water storage tanks were the first to experience this low water pressure.
How does Japay respond?
When such a failure occurs and the service is restored, it takes us an additional hour to rehabilitate all our equipment because at that moment, when the line is depressurized, air remains in the pipes, and pumping it could cause more damage than improvements.
Have the equipment been damaged by these outages?
So far, no, because we have been preparing with preventive maintenance for our large water treatment plants and the 21 booster pumping stations, as well as the 189 systems we have throughout the city. Many times, preventive maintenance is more cost-effective than intervening when the machines are no longer in good condition.
How is the issue of leaks going?
In our work lines, we have set the goal of recovering flow rates, which refers to those larger leaks. For example, last week, we repaired five leaks in 18-inch lines located in different areas of the city.
Have they increased or decreased?
In this time of year with so much rain, we have also noticed an increase in leaks. Last bimester, we repaired around 300 leaks, and currently, we are handling between 450 and 500 leaks per week with our teams, providing a response time to reports between 24 and 72 hours.
What about overdue accounts?
Fortunately, the people of Yucatan are aware that the supply of drinking water up to their doorstep is a service that should be paid for. Currently, 84 percent of our customers are up to date with their payments, and our goal is to reach 90 percent before the year ends. This figure is remarkable because the national average payment for this service is only 60 percent.
How can people catch up on payments?
We have a department designated for that, called the Collection Recovery Department. People with overdue balances can catch up on their service fees. We analyze their debt, offer financing, and provide facilities to get them back on track.
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