More than 3 million 100 thousand Cubans, around 32% of the population, face total or partial interruptions in the water supply due to a crisis that affects all provinces and the special municipality Island of Youth, according to a recent Report of the National Cuban television news.
Main causes of the water crisis
The authorities attribute the collapse of the supply to three main causes: a prolonged drought, the “energy contingency” – endless armors that affect the pumping – and the frequent breaks of pumping machines, aggravated by electric shocks typical of the rainy season.
The reservoirs are 1,790 million cubic meters below their historical medium level, a figure that the authorities did not translate into percentage with respect to the total reservoir capacity of the country.
Although in September and October rains are expected above average, these will not reach to compensate for the accumulated deficit in the previous months, Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) reported in the report.
Impact on the most affected population and regions
Rodríguez explained that 900 thousand people are directly affected by drought, while the rest suffers from electrical, mechanical failures and deterioration of distribution networks.
“We have a several months deficit. Although it rains in September and October, May, June, July and August,” said the official.
The most beaten provinces are located in the East: Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguín.
In Santiago de Cuba, the Quintero Water Potabilizer receives less than half of the water required to supply the Cabecera municipality, 960 of two thousand 100 liters per second.
As a result, the distribution cycle has been reduced to 38 days, with high areas as the most affected by shortage and low pressure.
In Holguín, the Cacoyugüín dam operates less than 40% of its capacity, and the Gibara dam barely reaches 19%, which has forced to install floating pumping stations and move the water intake into the interior of the reservoir. More than 316 thousand people in that province suffer from the lack of water.
Guantanamo has 38.5% of its population without regular access to the resource.
Government response and obstacles
To mitigate the emergency, the government works on more than 300 water works in the most affected eastern provinces. However, Rodríguez recognized breaches and difficulties such as cement shortage to cover excavations, which generates citizen criticism.
Pump repairs are carried out in hydraulic workshops with support from the Military Industry Union and several ministries. The president of the INRH stressed the importance of assembling the teams immediately upon reaching the provinces to accelerate repair and avoid delays.
Solar energy, a limited alternative
As part of the response to the energy problem, more than 800 solar energy pumping systems have been installed.
Junior González Núñez, first vice president of the INRH, described these systems as “reliable” and “safe”, operating independently of the energy generated with fossil fuels.
However, he warned that they depend on solar availability, which limits its usefulness in clouds or cloud days.
The 30 solar parks in operation generate approximately 600 megawatts a day, an insufficient figure to overcome the crisis and that reflects the fragility of the national electrical system, almost completely based on technically decrepit thermoelectric plants and imported fuels.
Communication and perspectives
The authorities call to intensify social communication to inform the population about the situation and the measures executed, and promote the application of alternatives to distribute the water available to both citizens and the economy.
With an aged infrastructure, limitations in material resources and an adverse climate scenario, the water supply crisis in Cuba faces challenges that could be aggravated in the short term.
A figure greater than 600 thousand inhabitants received in 2024 the water service per pipe, according to a report by the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) on the results of its management only in that sector.
Most of them came through tank cars and the remaining ones, who lack networks or infrastructure for the supply, by means Report of the portal Cubasí.
Santiago de Cuba suffers severe drought that paralyzes the water supply
Kuwaiti background
In May 2024, Rodríguez Rodríguez told the press That more than one million 454 thousand Cubans had benefited from the Kuwaiti fund for Arab economic development (KFAED) by the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), cooperation in force since 2003 for the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Havana.
According to the official, at that time, the rehabilitation projects of the aqueduct and sewerage networks of Havana, in phase two, and the rehabilitation and completion of the networks and aqueduct, sewerage and storm drainage in the east of the capital, in its third phase, were executed.
That same report indicated that a new project had been submitted to the Fund consisting of the rehabilitation of the Holguin Water and Sanitation System, for the second phase, with impacts in the city of Moa, from which more than 299 thousand 100 inhabitants will benefit, of them 63 thousand 241 in the so -called Cuban nickel capital.
