Čačak and Gornji Milanovac were without water on Tuesday due to a pipeline failure

The Director of the Regional Water System "Rzav" Zoran Barać said that due to the repair of the fault in the main pipeline in Ovčar Banja, there will be no water on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 24 a.m. Cacak i Gornji Milanovac.

"Due to a water leak on the main pipeline with a diameter of 1.100 millimeters in Ovčar Banja, above the Jovanje monastery, we are forced to proceed with the urgent repair of that defect, in order to prevent a major accident, which could lead to significantly greater consequences for the water supply of our users," Barać told FoNet.

The municipalities of Lucani, Požega and Arilje, which are located upstream from the failure site, will have normal supply.

"A very serious malfunction"

Barać stated that the failure of the 70-kilometer main pipeline is very serious, especially since the length of the pipeline is 54 kilometers from the point of failure in Ovčar Banja to the break chamber in Brđani.

Repairing the defect is very complicated, because there are 50.000 cubic meters of water in the pipeline from the water factory in Arilje to the break chamber in Brđani. It is a load of 50.000 tons, which moves completely freely due to gravity, said Barać.

According to him, "it's like having a 10-kilometer-long freight train moving downhill, and we need to calm it down and stop it in a controlled manner, so that there are no mechanical and hydraulic shocks, turbidity of the water, or a change in its quality."

About five liters of water per second was leaking at the point of failure, but in the past few days that amount has increased to 20 liters per second.

100 liters of water per second could be released, which would cause even more dangerous accidents, new bursts and in places of hydraulic shocks, which would be disastrous for the entire system, said Barać.

He stated that a dozen people will work to eliminate the malfunction, and that number will be in the mobile team, which will control all upstream and downstream air valves and possible hydraulic shocks.

Source: FoNet

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