The president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources of Cuba (INRH), Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, responded honestly to Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel when he asked him about dates and mechanisms to resolve the multiple problems of water supply in Cuba.
“We are going to continue working tirelessly, But telling you now a date by which we can have resolved all the problems would not be fair on my part because it is not possible to know exactly.”, confessed the person responsible for the country’s hydraulic resources.
The official was interviewed on the podcast “From the Presidency”, where Raúl Castro’s successor told him about the population’s complaints about the lack of water and asked him when and how the three fundamental problems in relation to water could be resolved. : the leaks, the supply and the sewage.
Rodríguez Rodríguez’s response showed little hope for the population: “We aspire, being realistic, that, according to the rhythms we have, we can have a better situation next year, although That does not mean that we are going to solve all the problems of leaks, obstructions, water supply and others.”
The breakdown of equipment, the lack of maintenance and spare parts and accessories, and the lack of fuel were pointed out as the main causes of the lack of water, indicated Rodríguez Rodríguez.
The manager said that between 2006 and 2007 more than 80% of the equipment for the hydraulic infrastructure was replaced and that In the next almost 20 years “repairs could not be carried out necessary”.
However, he stated that In reality, the infrastructure, the capabilities and the potential to make repairs do exist, “but it is a process that will inevitably take time.”
In March 2024, the study “The water problem in Cuba” was released, carried out by the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory, which reflects that despite having extensive reservoir systems, more than 67% of the Cuban population They do not receive stable water in their homes.
Almost 2 million Cubans (1,884,000) do not have access to drinking water. The lack of maintenance of the infrastructure, the poor management of water resources and the prioritization of tourism over the basic needs of the population when guaranteeing the supply of the precious liquid, aggravate the situation, according to this investigation.
They also point out that the tendency to continue building large hydraulic works aggravates the problem instead of promoting the best use of the available water through the maintenance of the networks.
On the other hand, they warn that the massive construction of hotels in urban areas where there are already problems with water supply and waste treatment reflects the insistence on preserving the availability of water for investments in tourism without improving the water service for the population.
“Nor is the impact of the high water consumption by these hotels and in some cases by their golf courses on the limited phreatic field taken into account appropriately, especially in already over-exploited areas such as the Hicacos Peninsula (Varadero),” they add.
Other revealing figures of that report are the following:
- More than 475,000 Cubans receive water in tanker trucks (pipas) permanently.
- 67% of the population does not have a daily water supply service: that is, 7,435,690 Cubans
- The supply of water to homes in Cuba:
- 15% receive water on a stable and permanent basis;
- 17% do not have drinking water services
- 40% receive water between 4 to 6 days a week
- 27% less than 4 days a week.
- 1 in four elderly people over 70 years of age suffer from a lack of water supply
- Every day, 1.55 million cubic meters of water are pumped to Havana to the capital, of which the city only receives 0.47 million cubic meters.
- A “water carrier” in Havana charges $500 pesos (almost a quarter of the minimum wage) to fill a 55-gallon tank.
- 30% of the average rainfall in the country is dammed before reaching the sea.
- One Olympic swimming pool for every 3 Cubans is the water capacity in the reservoirs in Cuba: 9,128 million cubic meters (2.4 trillion gallons).
- Cuba’s water supply system (242 reservoirs and thousands of kilometers of canals, ditches and aqueducts) is largely unsustainable and remains partly inactive.
