The authorities recognize that there are 600,000 people in Cuba with “affectations” in the supply of water
14ymedio, Havana, 4 September 2024 — Desperate over being without water for more than two weeks, the residents of the La Rosita neighborhood, in the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón, took to the streets Tuesday night to protest. As seen in images shared by La Tijera on Facebook, dozens of people gathered and stopped traffic on the Calzada de Güines, after being 16 days without water. According to the text that accompanies the photos, the population also demonstrated over the lack of milk for children.
It is the most recent of the protests for this basic service, increasingly frequent on the Island. On August 25, the residents of the San Francisco de Paula neighborhood took to the streets in a “cacerolazo” — a protest consisting of banging on pots and pans — shouting “water”! They demanded the restoration of the service. Something similar was experienced a few weeks earlier, with demonstrations in Central Havana, Old Havana and Luyanó, where the protestors succeeded in restoring the supply.
The authorities acknowledged on Tuesday that currently more than 600,000 people in the country are affected by the lack of water. In a note published by the official newspaper Granma, the number of people who lack adequate access to water in Cuba has increased to 7%, according to the official report. In November of last year, the regime recognized that there were 450,000 people affected throughout the country, and by April the number was already around 500,000. However, according to other official data released last April, at the end of 2022 there were 5,689,476 Cubans who did not have “dignified access to water”; that is, half of the population.
In Cuba, half of the population does not have ’dignified access to water’
In a press conference held this Tuesday, hours before the protests in San Miguel del Padrón, José Antonio Hernández Álvarez, President of the Water and Sanitation Business Group – belonging to the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources – detailed that of the 600,000 affected and recognized by the regime, at least 27% are concentrated in the west of the Island, the most populated area. Provinces such as Pinar del Río and Artemisa each have 30,000 customers without service, and Havana, by itself, exceeds 130,000. In the center and east of the country things are not improving, and provinces such as Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Holguín add up to 150,000 affected.
According to Hernández Álvarez, the damage to the water infrastructure in the Cuban capital began, on a date that he did not determine exactly, due to breakdowns in a group of important devices in the South Basin, which supplies the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución, Centro Habana, Habana Vieja, Diez de Octubre and a part of Boyeros.
“However, after the gradual improvement in that area, now the greatest difficulties are moving to the west of the city,” he said. In that sense, Hernández Álvarez ventured a possible explanation about the 16 days that the residents of San Miguel de Padrón have been without a drop of water. According to what the official told the press, the supply to the municipality operated for a long time with only three, or even two, of its four pumps, “but all are now restored.” In addition, “a driver repair, last Friday, made it possible to recover pressure and flow,” he said, although these repairs do not seem to be reflected yet, because the protests occurred during the night, hours after the conference.
In the official press, notices of repairs of the hydraulic network in Havana have become common, which also affect the roads in some areas. This is what happened this week at the intersection of 23rd street and A in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución.
In addition to the constant breakdowns in the island’s hydraulic networks, there is rampant drought
While attempting to argue before the press about Cuba’s complex situation with water, Hernández Álvarez appealed on Tuesday to the old excuse about the breakdowns in a significant number of pumping stations and the situation of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN).
Regarding the energy crisis throughout the Island, the official reiterated that, “sometimes the availability of the generation or the instability of the SEN prevents the protection of the circuits that house the supply teams. In addition, sudden starts and stops, as well as voltage and frequency variations of energy systems, produce collateral breakdowns,” he added.
The publication of the official newspaper emphasizes that the strategy to “reverse this reality involves attention to priorities, in accordance with the amount of population in places with broken equipment.”
To the constant breakdowns in the hydraulic networks of the Island is added the galloping drought caused by the lack of rain in recent months, which has led Cuban reservoirs to dry up. A clear example is that of the Zaza dam, located in Sancti Spíritus, which is so thirsty that where before the fishermen snuck in to get some tilapia, now there are cows grazing on the grass.
To try to alleviate the “complex” situation, the government has come up with no better remedy than to promise a series of investments, which to date have not been reflected in any benefit to the population. Among the government measures announced for this year is the execution of 206 hydraulic works, including investments and maintenance actions, as well as the acquisition of some 1,390 pieces of pumping equipment.
A worker of Aguas de la Habana reveals to 14ymedio that in the capital, all the repairs that are being carried out on the hydraulic network are very late because there is not enough budget to pay for them. This has forced the workers to reduce their activities to a few jobs on foot, with days of only three hours.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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