Only in the head of the province, about half a million inhabitants are affected by the shortage of water.
Lima, Peru – The lack of rainfall in the eastern region of Cuba has caused what specialists describe as “the most severe drought of the last decade” in Santiago de Cuba. In the head of that province alone, about half a million inhabitants are affected by the shortage of water.
The situation in the provincial head is “alarming,” acknowledges a report by state newspaper Diario Sierra Maestra. Very depressed reservoirs and distribution cycles that, in most cases, exceed 30 days make the daily life of Santiago worse.
“To this are added the problems with the networks and hydraulic systems (salideos and breakage of the equipment); the electricity generation deficit that makes continuous pumping impossible; the availability of tank trucks (pipes) that does not supply the demand; as well as countless indisciplines towards the networks, and disproportion of the cycles between one sector and another,” warns the official press.
Katia Alarcón Méndez, director of the hydraulic use company, commented that the few existing rainfall are far from the supply sources. The situation is critical of monkey puddle out of service at 8.8 % of its capacity; Gilbert at 13%; 16 %stop; White drop to 18.3 % and Chaloons shows a level of only 31.4 %.
“We cannot fail to mention that with the Mogote transfer we are driving the water from the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes dam, dozens of kilometers northwest of the city and that it is at 68.5% filling,” said the directive.
The regime authorities in the province and national level They claim to be carrying out actions and investments to mitigate the problem, but the reality is the less chaotic.
“In Chicharrones we have not for four months, and there are those who have to buy 20 liters of water at 400 pesos and the pipes cost what they ask for,” said a resident identified as Liurkis Hechavarría Ferrer, whose son suffers from several diseases and does not have the purchasing power to pay for the liquid.
Since May those who reside in Circumscripen 159, in the Santa Bárbara cast did not receive water resource. The residents had to serve with tank trucks until the water service was restored at the end of August, almost four months later.
Orlando Romero Veranes, engineering director of the Aqueduct and Sewerage Company (EAA) Aguas Santiago, also highlighted other difficulties that aggravate access to the water in the province.
Of the 106 facilities for the distribution of water, he points out, only 19 have emergency users and the generation deficit of the national electrical system makes the continuity of the pumping and overfield process impossible.
In this regard, the manager announced that in the stop system a well field is being created that will have photovoltaic solar panels that will allegedly help reverse the mess.
At the same time, complaints of salideros, waste and negligence do not stop in Santiago de Cuba. Nor do the leaks that have not repaired months, reported breakdowns that are not served, damaged streets and whole neighborhoods almost paralyzed by the lack of service.
Water cuts have been a constant in different provinces of the island in recent months. More than 90,000 people in Las Tunas suffer from the lack of water in this season, while about 35,686 inhabitants in Sancti Spíritus also suffer the shortage of the liquid.
