Some 700,000 people in Cuba do not receive water daily due to continuous power outages in the pumping stations, admitted Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, president of the state National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), in a press conference, published the official newspaper Granma.
Rodriguez said that The hydraulic sector is the one that consumes the most electrical energyonly preceded by the demand of the population.
Of the generator sets in the supply plants, recently there was only coverage for 36% of the supply sources in the territories; “We have reached 57%, but we hope to cover 65% with the introduction of other batteries soon,” he added.
The problem is exacerbated because The companies in charge of maintenance and repair of the generating sets are incapable of assuming spare parts. They limit themselves, with great effort, to inventing to put the equipment into operation.
Another determining issue is the fueling to that technology, because some are located in intricate places, and diesel does not always arrive on time, according to the official.
To bring water to vital centers, tanker trucks must be used to supply the population, which lengthens the cycles in those communities that do not receive the liquid from the drivers.
In the towns of San Juan and Martínez, in Pinar del Río, residents have reported up to 44 days without water and paying for water pipes at a high price. In Santiago de Cuba deliveries the distribution cycle has been extended up to 50 daysas DIARIO DE CUBA has confirmed.
Rodríguez said that, in order to reduce dependence on pumping to the national electricity grid“the installation of 722 solar-powered devices is expedited as much as possible.”
“There are more than 600 providing services, and now we have just received another 144 for the mountainous municipalities. I am talking about 170 pumping stations that will install 70 units powered by solar panels in the east of the country. Another 74 will be destined for Villa Clara “We want to have 866 units operating on July 26, which are 866 places in which the supply will not be affected by electricity cuts,” added the president of the INRH.
Blow to the already precarious food situation
In Matanzas, the “energy contingency” bears the blame for the fact that, once again, children, pregnant women and sick people on prescribed diets were left without fresh milk. This is what local television station Telebandera reported on its social networks.
“Important information: Local authorities report this Wednesday, May 22, that, Due to the electro-energetic contingency, the processing of fluid milk could not be guaranteed from the Columbus dairy complex, which caused the massive milk cut“.
The note added that, instead, powdered milk will be distributed, a product that consumers would receive in the afternoon at the different points of sale in Cárdenas.
“How awful! A country with a rampant shortage of everything, including milk, and that has not been able to take measures to guarantee the conservation of that food“lamented Edel Aneyro.
Elda González added: “It is very sad that because of the electricity, the jobs of many farmers are lost, but it is even sadder that children and the elderly are the ones harmed.“.
On Tuesday, after unit six of the Diez de Octubre thermoelectric plant (CTE) in Nuevitas joined the National Electrical System, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, celebrated that “We are already reducing the number of blocks under repair and, with it, the deficit“.
On Wednesday, with five units still out of service, the state Electrical Union (UNE) estimated a maximum impact of 350 MW during daytime hours and 650 MW during this time, certainly less than the deficit of previous days, but without yet the population can see the relief of the blackouts.
