The state-run Aqueduct and Sewer Company admits that five municipalities spend between 20 and 22 hours a day with pumping systems shut down.
14ymedio, Madrid, July 5, 2026 – Prolonged power outages and breakdowns in pumping equipment have left 65% of Artemisa’s population struggling to access water, according to the Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company.
According to figures published by the official newspaper El Artemiseño, about 25,000 people experience service interruptions due to failures in pumping equipment, while another 200,000 are affected by the lack of electricity needed to pump water. In total, around 225,000 residents face problems with water supply.
The director of the Provincial Aqueduct and Sewer Company, Jorge Cobas Vidal, explained that of the province’s 42 submersible pumps, three remain out of service. The municipalities facing the greatest difficulties are San Cristóbal, Candelaria, Artemisa, Bahía Honda, and Guanajay, where pumping systems remain out of operation for an average of between 20 and 22 hours a day due to the lack of electricity.
The most critical situation is in San Cristóbal, where neighborhoods and communities depend on an electrical circuit that, as the newspaper itself acknowledges, has remained without service for more than 24 hours at a time. Cobas Vidal explained that the two hours of electricity between blackouts are not enough to restore the pressure needed to deliver water to all areas.
The two hours of electricity between blackouts are not enough to restore the pressure needed to deliver water to all areas
Similar problems are concentrated mainly in the higher-elevation areas of Artemisa, Guanajay, Bahía Honda, and Candelaria, where prolonged blackouts and the lack of synchronization between pumping and repumping systems prevent the restoration of service with only two or three hours of electricity.
According to Cobas Vidal, the state company loses about seven million pesos in monthly revenue because of the lack of fuel and electricity: four million due to maintenance work that cannot be carried out and three million because of limitations on water truck services. Added to this are another 20 million pesos that, according to the official, go uncollected because part of the population refuses to pay water fees, effectively blaming residents for failing to pay for a service that the company itself admits it cannot guarantee.
Cobas Vidal also acknowledged difficulties in distributing water by tanker trucks because of the fuel shortage. The official said that complaints about the poor organization of water distribution and illegal water sales are troubling. He admitted that there have been reports of illegal sales and said the agency has detected some cases, although he maintained that many complaints are never formally filed. The official insisted that authorized private water trucks are not allowed to sell water. “Even though under the current circumstances the private sector has access to fuel and some cases are authorized to load water into private tanker trucks, it will never be permitted for that water to be sold, and it must always be done in an organized and controlled manner,” he said.
The situation in Artemisa is part of an alarming pattern repeated throughout the country
The official newspaper, which presents these figures in a report titled Initiative and Commitment for Greater Water Supply, announced a series of measures aimed at easing the crisis: changing electrical circuits to protect some pumping stations, the future installation of solar-powered systems, projects to take advantage of gravity-fed water from reservoirs, and the relocation of pumping equipment from facilities that are currently unused.
The situation in Artemisa is part of an alarming pattern repeated throughout the country. Last May, the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, acknowledged that nearly 2.7 million Cubans lack regular access to water service every day because of the energy crisis and fuel shortages.
According to the official, 87% of the national water supply system depends on the national electrical grid, meaning that blackouts directly affect water service. In Havana alone, more than 376,000 people were experiencing disruptions to their water supply, most of them because pumping stations could not remain in operation during power outages.
The water supply crisis has also sparked protests in different parts of the country in recent months. This Sunday, residents of the Mantilla neighborhood in Havana blocked a street with buckets in their hands after going more than 24 hours without electricity and water, in yet another protest against the deterioration of basic services.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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