If the drama caused by the Madrid Metro in San Fernando de Henares (40,000 inhabitants) is a fire that has devoured 54 homes, the underground is the spark and part of the fire is in a well on the Canal de Isabel II.
This is detailed in a report from the Community of Madrid that admits the patrimonial responsibility of the Administration in that more than 150 residents have had to leave their homes in this municipality in the east of the region at some point since 2021, and in that hundreds of homes are full of cracks since the arrival of the trains modified the subsoil and caused the buildings to lose their footing.
It all started in 2007, when the works promoted by the government of Esperanza Aguirre made it easier for the water to come into contact with the salt that intertwined the ground, dissolving it.
Fifteen years later, in May 2021,
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"At the end of May 2021, the Canal de Isabel II was urged to review and repair the existing collector that runs along Calle de la Presa, from its intersection with Rafael Alberti," the document reads. which also details the previous repair of a municipal collector.
“Breaks were found in the collection well for pumping water from the metro well located on Rafael Alberti street, whose bottom was completely undermined;
In addition, there was a break in the side walls of it, which allowed water to leak into the ground, causing abundant water losses ”, he continues.
“As a consequence of these events [the collector and others], and in the vicinity of the well, various buildings have been affected, proceeding in some cases to the demolition of the buildings,
And it is recognized: "The damage to the houses occurred as a consequence of the movements of the ground, linked to the leaks around the pumping well of the tunnel located at PK 2 + 890 of the Metro line 7B and the geological and hydrogeological conditions in the area, therefore it is stated that there is a causal link between the actions of the Administration and the damage to homes, without this implying that the construction of the extension infrastructure of line 7 of the Madrid Metro has been the only concurrent cause in the appearance of such damages and their subsequent evolution, since the referred damages are probably the result of a set of facts and conditions among which are also, as a concurrent factor,the deficiencies detected in the sanitation network where the flows collected by the infrastructure of the line are pumped”.
In 2021, when it acted on the collector, the Community already knew through multiple internal and external reports that the cause of the problem was clear: water.
Images provided by Dron Air Corporation and commissioned by the San Fernando de Henares City Council.
Thus, the same year as the opening of line 7B, in 2007, the infrastructure managers know that "various pathologies have been detected in relation to an anomalous and increasing entry of high conductivity water into the pumping well located between station 7 (San Fernando) and 8 (Henares)”.
Barely six months later, in June 2008, another report warned the Community "of the consequent risk of collapse in the subway tunnel and surrounding buildings."
In 2009, a third assessment alerted the Administration that it is "extremely urgent" to act for this reason.
And in 2010, when the problems of the houses are still incipient, a comprehensive document is registered.
"The karstification in this area was not detected with the surveys of the project, probably because it did not exist", it is read about the changes in the terrain caused by the coming into contact of the water (which did not exist before) with the easily soluble salts that intertwine the subsoil (they were already there).
“However, the construction of the tunnel and subsequent drainage began to mobilize the flow of groundwater and to initiate a progressive process of dissolution of the land, specifically and preferably, of the existing saline levels”, he adds.
"(...) In this type of terrain, movement of water means dissolution capacity", he underlines, alluding to the changes in the terrain that affect the settlement of the foundations of the buildings.
In all that time, Madrid has had six regional presidents and eight Transport councillors, but the problem has increased without anyone solving it until it has become a vital drama.
That the Community itself has put the well in focus, popular sources underline, questions Paloma Martín, the head of Environment, Housing and Agriculture, and one of the preferred advisers of the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The Canal is under her responsibility.
A connection that popular sources emphasize, where the proximity of the elections on May 28 gradually raises internal tensions that include surprise because Ayuso wanted to partially blame the problem on the left-wing city councils that once applauded the arrival of the infrastructure .
Demolition of houses affected by line 7B of the Metro in San Fernando de Henares.
EFE/Iván Fuentes MedinaIván Fuentes Medina (EFE)
"The Canal de Isabel II acted in the event of a breakdown in 2021 as stated in the order," they explain from the counselor's team in reference to the document.
"The collector on Calle Presa was renewed at even numbers, and the groundwater was diverted to the collector on Calle Francisco Sabatini," they add, without seeing any problem.
Since it was rushed into operation in 2007 to coincide with the elections, line 7B has been closed nine times.
In total, it has ceased to serve, being closed, three years of its fifteen years of life.
In the middle, the water leaked, eating away at the foundations of the houses in an area of at least 10,000 square meters in which the government is now injecting cement to consolidate the subsoil.
In parallel, the Executive says that it will invest more than 120 million euros in fixing the problems in the area, which also affect public buildings and municipal facilities.
And it has offered 136,000 to 355,000 euros to residents for their homes, and 10,000 to 33,000 euros for their garages.
Figures that reflect two dramas.
First, that of the more than 80 families that have had to leave their homes, leaving their dreams and memories behind, due to the arrival of the Metro in San Fernando.
And second, that of the neighbors who still live in apartments full of cracks, that roar with creaking at night, and who live with the constant uncertainty of knowing that they can see their homes condemned to the pickaxe.
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