Specialists point out that it is the driest period that Cuba has seen in more than 120 years, specifically since 1901.
Lima, Peru – Hydraulic resources specialists in Cuba say that at this time 99% of the national territory is affected by meteorological drought. This is the driest period on the island since 1901.
A state report Cuban television It provides new data on the shortage panorama in the country. The current situation forces the population to survive without the precious liquid by increasingly prolonged cycles, motivating multiple complaints and protests in recent months.
“The last days we have had a more favorable behavior to rainfall, however, the deficits are so large of previous months that they still do not cover the rain that has stopped falling in all this time,” says Antonio Vladimir Guevara Velazco, scientific director of the Institute of Meteorology.
The decrease in levels in the country’s water reserves impacts the service, a reality that raises the effects according to official sources in provinces such as Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Guantanamo and Ciego de Ávila.
Beyond state data, provinces such as Havana, Sancti spíritus and the tunas also add up to hundreds of thousands of affected by the deficit.
Given the crisis, the Cuban regime claims to be exploiting different alternatives. In the floating station of the Gibara dam, one of the sources of the city of Holguín, there were volumes for just 20 days of coverage.
“This week we worked for electromechanics in Santiago and an elongation of the pumping station was made, whose work allows the coverage of the Gibara dam more than 120 days to extend,” said Engineer Yulian Omar Rodríguez, vice president of the Land Water Group of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH).
In the waters of Havana, the Castro press announces that works in the South Cuenca System are advanced. On the subject, it admits that it is the water that is lost in driving, the product of more than 40 years of exploitation, salider and frequent breakage in conductors.
Santiago de Cuba: one of the main focus of effects
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 %.
At the same time, complaints of salideos, 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.
