More of 700,000 inhabitants of the province of Santiago de Cuba are subject to water distribution cycles of between 20 and 75 daysdue to exits, the continuous breakdowns of the drivers and lack of fuel that affect the operations of the most modern aqueduct on the island.
This very serious situation adds to electricity outages and lack of food that caused the protests on March 17 in the provincial capital.
Along with hunger and blackouts, Santiago residents must deal with the unhealthiness caused by the lack of drinking water in their homes, an issue that the State considered resolved a decade ago by investing more than 200 million dollars to supposedly provide the territory with a service that would operate efficiently 24 hours a day.
Waldis González Peinado, coordinator of programs and objectives of the provincial government, acknowledged during a television appearance that The energy crisis led to a total imbalance in the distribution of water resourcesboth in the main city and in the rest of the municipalities.
In an attempt to appease popular unrest, he pointed out that there is also negligence, late payment, lack of control and violation of technical standards when it comes to guaranteeing its transfer and distribution from the water treatment plants.
According to Gerardo Ginarte Sánchez, delegate of the Institute of Hydraulic Resources, “The territory’s reservoirs are at 78% of their filling capacity and the groundwater from the San Juan wells have a favorable situation”, which guarantees distribution for a period of two years, even if the rainfall regime were little or none.
The leader explained that “20 communities, where some 7,000 inhabitants live, Their river sources were depleted due to the drought“.
The most critical areas in the second largest city in the country are El Caney, Ciudamar, the coastal neighborhoods, Sevilla, Las Lajas, El Rodeo, La Kety and the José Martí district, with water supply cycles of between 25 and 50 days.
Orlando Romero Veranes, engineering director of Aguas Santiago, recognized that these hydrometric sectors are affected by the breaks of several conductorswhere up to a kilometer of pipes must be replaced, whose diameter fluctuates between 300 and 1,000 millimeters.
The leaks are so large that they have become recreation areas and laundry rooms. of cars and animals. This spectacle outrages those who collect the water with which they bathe in basins and other containers to flush their toilets, while they watch in astonishment. the indolence with which it is squandered and poured into the sewer.
Engineer Alberto Martel, from Aguas Turquino, the entity responsible for control and distribution in seven municipalities of the province, said that in San Luis, Dos Caminos, Songo, Yerba de Guinea, La Testa, Los Pozos, La Sultana, Mina de Ponupo, Joturo and The Pearl cycles have reached around 75 days.
He added that Filé and Baire, from the municipalities of Tercer Frente and Contramaestre, respectively, are also experiencing tense situations, where it has barely been able to pump twice so far this year.
In the town of Baraguá, less than a kilometer from a dam that stores 256 million cubic meters of water, the distribution cycle is 35 days; while in Palma Soriano, located on the banks of the Cauto River, the longest in Cuba, the town receives the service once a month.
“More than rivers and wells, what is dry in Santiago de Cuba is patience“said Aleida Milanés, a resident of the city.
Hilda Llopiz, from San Felipe, described it as “crime to keep the elderly, children and pregnant women for two months and 17 days without water in their houses”.
In densely populated areas of Palma Soriano, the population uses rudimentary wells with high levels of sodium and potassium and consumes “raw” water from rivers where tractors are washed, animals are bathed and dairy farms dump their waste.
Ana Bustamante explained that, although Santiago de Cuba has sufficient water resources“thousands of families have a rudimentary system to store rain, and in buildings they are aware of what runs off from the roofs to guarantee cleanliness.”
A neighbor from the Flores district lashed out at the authorities because “They haven’t put water in for more than 35 days, while it is wasted beyond measure in the streets”. Another said that His salary is not enough “to continue paying for water tanks at 300 pesos.”because the (distribution) cycle exceeds 60 days”.
Marlene said that “in the hole of the Micro 7 people fetch water with buckets and jugs from the open register on the floorbecause it hasn’t come through the pen for almost a month.”
“To drink, I buy the 20-liter porrones, for 100 pesos,” he explained, because The rest of the chores are solved with almost putrid water from the Gascón Riverwhere the waste from a nearby hamlet ends up.
“Since the end of 2018, the cycles neither exist nor are they respected,” criticized Maricela, from La Risueña, who reflected on the controversy in an area “where They never send pipes and the population is riddled with scabies and itches.“.
Like her, many Santiago residents distrust a quick solution to this problembecause the Government neither supervises nor has a body of inspectors to supervise the Aqueduct Company.
For Adolfo Esquivel “insensitivity has no limits and the press does not help either,” in reference to the way in which the media misinforms about an issue that, along with food, “suffocates” many low-income families.
Abelardo and his wife Katiuska say that “in San Pedrito, if you don’t make a cistern you’re toastand the majority only use the bathroom for cleaning, since they evacuate the physiological waste in the latrines they have in the patios.”
