Despite the optimistic headlines about the filling of dams and reservoirs after the devastating rains that have hit the eastern half of the Island for days, the official press has recognized this Wednesday the alarming situation in provinces such as Sancti Spíritus, whose water supply is not raising its head.
4,500 people, spread over five rural communities in the municipality of Yaguajay, have to resort to expensive pipes or harrows, or save even more than they can’t the meager amount of water they have. These are Seibabo, Centeno, Batey Colorado, Simón Bolívar and the neighborhood of La Esperanza, to which the official press attributes an unfavorable panorama due to “breakdowns in the pumping stations, the lack of hypochlorinators and the malfunction of the distribution”.
The provincial director of Aqueduct and Sewerage, Yusniel Benavides, informed the official press that in Yaguajay another 20 communities lack sewers, aqueducts or drainage routes, where the inhabitants have had to look for “their own alternatives”, although he did not say which ones. .
Another 950 people from Sancti Spiritus, residents of the town of Iguará, have to resort to pipes to supply themselves during the week. However, “this schedule is not always met, due to the fuel limitations faced by the municipality,” it was justified.
Benavides assured that his office does what it can for Iguará, but it has too many limitations. “Whenever the territory has fuel, the delivery of water is readjusted, in an effort to guarantee the residents the essential resource,” he added.
He admitted that there are places with a “critical situation” that demand an “urgent response” and, although he did not commit to anything, he said that the “highest authorities” have Sancti Spíritus in their sights
He admitted that there are places with a “critical situation” that have been demanding an “urgent response” from the authorities for some time and, although he did not commit himself to anything, he said that the “highest authorities” have Sancti Spíritus in their sights, with a view to repair defects in pumping equipment and send the necessary water to health centers and food processing in the territory.
Although it is true that the recent rains in the east have brought some relief to the difficulties with the water supply in the province, they do not represent a permanent solution to the problem. In February of this year, authorities in Las Tunas revealed that droughts in the province had caused the death of 4,400 head of cattle. In addition, 2023 began, for the province, with the reservoirs filled to barely a third of their capacity.
The drought was one of the factors that prevented the development of the agricultural sector in 2022 and pushed the cattle death due to “mismanagement and insufficient availability of water and food,” Manuel Pérez Gallego, a member of the Central Committee and first secretary of the Communist Party in Las Tunas, assured at the beginning of January.
newspaper 26 He then pointed out that the insufficient amount of water had made it necessary to toughen the “saving” measures in consumption. One of the most rigorous was applied to the Juan Sáez dam, the one with the largest storage capacity, which had to restrict the supply for customers in the sugar and agricultural sector.
Cuba suffers more and more prolonged and continuous droughts, a phenomenon that last year left consequences in the production of the province of Villa Clara, where, according to the official press, also about 22,000 cows died due to lack of water, food and medicine.
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