Havana/Women who throw themselves into the street with their children and men with machetes that force the driver of a pipe to give them a part of their load, these two prints reflect the despair of the habaneros to get water after several days without supply. This Monday, some police tried to dissuade a group of mothers to close Monte Street, a few meters from the Fraternity Park, removing the cubes and pushing them.
He headed the Magalys Anglada Mena demonstration, daughter of the activist resident in the United States Ariadna Mena Rubio. Moments later, a pipe arrived at the place, guarded by the police.
The protest, similar to what almost two years ago They starred in other mothers Very close to there and for the same reason, it shows the critical situation of the supply in the capital, which has been aggravated in recent weeks and affects almost all municipalities.
In El Vedado, a neighbor tells, several men with machetes stopped in front of a tank truck to prevent the passage until they also distributed water to them. “It is not known if they had paid her individuals or it was one of the few state pipes they send, who come and throw a little water and leave,” says the man.
In many neighborhoods of Havana, the image of police officers is repeated guarding the supply trucks. And every morning, people look out of their houses loaded with empty buckets. “I don’t know where they get the water,” says an old woman from Old Havana, “I imagine that they are going to look for a workplace or home of someone who has a cistern.”
There are numerous Facebook publications of Havaneros who regret having to wear dirty clothes in the impossibility of putting a washing machine
“People are very desperate, because they have no water or take for washing or anything,” says Mary, a neighbor of Luyanó. “There are places that have ten, others that have twelve days without service. We do not have water since last Monday. And I still called today and they told me that they were going to pump but did not know when.” There are numerous Facebook publications of Havaneros who regret having to wear dirty clothes due to the impossibility of putting a washing machine.
Already at the end of August, says Mary, there were problems. “In my sister’s apartment building, a tumult of people forced the driver of a pipe that had resolved Another neighbor of her money to give them water too. They didn’t let him go until the man did. ”
In early September, the Official means They recognized the “water scene” of the city, with a deficit of 2,500 liters per second, which was affecting “daily average” about 150,000 inhabitants. Some interviewees said they had the supply for “at least three months” and the authorities mobilized 90 vehicles to distribute water at home.
In the Aguas Telegram channel in Havana, the few messages early on Monday informing the restoration of pumping in some places gave way to a majority of communications on service interruptions. This Saturday, after several days of water cut to repair the system known as Cuenca Sur, the driver broke again.
The next day, The state company explained“The final replacement phase of 250 meters of 78 inches of the source source south source ended.” However, another problem was presented to the state company: “When replacing the service, a section of the same driver, upstream, which also presented an important weakening, collapsed.”
“When they placed them, they had a factory close to elaborate them, but these communists closed it because they said it was old technology”
The statement ensures that this situation was “predictable”, but that a “thorough inspection in the wells field could not be carried out because it would have been necessary to interrupt the service of the entire system, which would have added even more affectation to the municipalities that were already experiencing difficulties in the supply, and was chosen to advance with the repairs to minimize the initial discomfort.”
The company maintained optimism and added to face it as an opportunity to strengthen the system “even more”, identifying another critical point. “In addition to the replacement of the driver, we are taking this opportunity to carry out another key action: the interconnection between wells 1 and 2. This interconnection will improve the service to the municipalities of the central system,” he added.
However, an old water worker from Havana blames the problems of the collapse of Cuenca Sur, which was originally “made by the capitalists” – that is, before January 1959 -, to another issue. “The original tubes are made of cement covered. When they placed them, they had a factory close to elaborate them, but these communists closed it because they said it was old technology,” he tells.
And he continues: “Last week they announced by radio, television, internet, which Cuenca Sur was going to stop three days to change 50 meters of pipe. They made tremendous propaganda. Well, on Friday the driver started and everything they did broke up.”
A colleague of his abounds in the details: “The original tube was 90 centimeters. That pipe was put to the diameter, two 45 PVC tubes. They made an iron nozzle on the sides on each tie and screwed them, but it was broken again, because you have to put windy so that the water pressure does not burst the pipe again.”
Technically, it is possible to connect two 45 centimeter tubes with a 90 centimeters for water adduction, provided that adequate accessories and parts are used, such as sleeves and flexible couples. It must be calculated correctly, yes, the speed, the flow and the loss of load, to ensure that the transition of two smaller diameter pipes to a greater does not generate excessive turbulence or loss of hydraulic efficiency.
Something failed in Cuenca Sur, which has not informed Aguas de la Habana. The state workers, in any case, “are mobilized,” the workers say. “And in August the DTI [Dirección de Inteligencia] He installed a listening and monitoring center in the company, ”adds one of them. The capital’s supply is already a matter of national security.
