The problem, which affects several municipalities of the Costa del Sol, is a serious commitment to the safety of citizens and has a high economic cost

The thefts of the scupper grilles have become commonplace in the municipality of Marbella. Hidralia, the concessionaire of the water and sanitation service, calculates that more than 200 have been removed in just six months and has already reported these robberies to the National Police, the Local Police and Guardia Civil.

These acts of vandalism have serious consequences for the citizens of Marbella, since they endanger their safety. Not only that of pedestrians, who can fall into the holes of the sewers if the grids that cover them are removed, but also for vehicles, and can cause major accidents.

The problem increases because the replacement cannot be instantaneous. Although Hidralia indicates the area with fences as soon as it receives the notice that a grid is missing, placing a new final culvert requires between two weeks and a month, mainly because the demand is so high at the moment due to robberies that the stock has run out of these grids that do not have a standard size.

In addition, the replacement of these urban elements has a great economic cost. Replacing one of these grids costs around 300 euros, so replacing the more than 200 stolen means an outlay of more than 60,000 euros.

A problem that affects the entire Costa del Sol

These thefts are not a problem that affects only Marbella, but are shaking the entire Costa del Sol to Malaga capital. The first municipality to make this complaint public was Torremolinos. There, Aguas de Torremolinos, through his Twitter account, denounced the theft of almost 200 scuppers. Later, other municipalities joined, such as Mijas, Fuengirola or Benalmádena -whose mayor appealed to his neighbors through Facebook.

"We believe that citizen collaboration is very important, do not hesitate to tell us or the authorities when you see that someone is stealing one of those grids, or if you see a suspicious vehicle. If they do not carry the Hidralia logo, they are not Hidralia workers. And if you run into a scupper that has missing the grid or that may have been covered with some inappropriate object, we should be notified immediately through our usual communication channels to signal it”, says Carlos Corral, manager of the company .

You can call Hidralia at the breakdown service, at any time during the 365 days of the year free of charge (900 555 565) or give notice through Twitter (@infoHidralia), in addition to the offices or the customer support number (900 555 566).