The ongoing water supply crisis in the city of Santiago de Cuba is forcing residents to take extreme measures, such as collecting water directly from a street leak, endangering its quality and safety, and risking their lives.
Residents of the Los Pinos neighborhood, who have been without piped water for over two weeks, are filling buckets and tanks from a massive street leak, reported communicator Yosmany Mayeta on Facebook this Wednesday.
According to the activist, the large hole in the street is the result of a repair that began some time ago but remains incomplete, leaving people without this essential service for at least two weeks. The hole is located at the corner of Mariana Grajales and Los Pinos Streets, close to a garbage dump, as seen in the video.
In the photos shared by Mayeta, children and elderly people can be seen transporting the vital liquid in any container they can find. “People arrive with carts, tanks, and any container they have at home,” the communicator noted, also denouncing that the makeshift pool has become a recreational area.
At the same time, in the same hole where children bathe and people collect water for their homes, “carriage drivers passing by this street let their animals drink there,” illustrating the magnitude of the problem that could lead to contamination and diarrheal diseases.
Mayeta explained that the neighbors, tired and angry about seeing the water they desperately need being wasted due to the regime's negligence, asked him to make the government's poor management of this issue public.
CiberCuba contacted some residents of the area who claimed they have been without potable water service for nearly 20 days. A person from the Jiménez neighborhood, very close to the leak, reported that they have been without water for 19 days. Meanwhile, a mother from the José Martí urban center warned that she hasn't seen water flow through the pipes for over two weeks.
Government Response and Public Frustration
Despite the adverse situation faced by residents with blackouts and the precarious potable water supply system, in March, the first secretary of the Party in Santiago de Cuba, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, urged people not to despair. She was captured in a meeting asking to inform people that within a week, everyone would get "a little bit of water."
However, those who do receive water through the pipes also complain about its poor quality, barely usable for household chores. A resident of Santiago de Cuba, Keisa Calderín, denounced the awful quality of the water arriving at homes in her area. "Look at the water arriving in the district," she stated in a Facebook group, not needing more than two photos to demonstrate the severity of the situation.
But water supply issues are not exclusive to Santiago de Cuba. Recently, an increase in cases of hepatitis A in the Reina neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos raised alarms and forced authorities to implement epidemiological surveillance measures due to the health alert.
Dr. Liván Rojas Lantigua, director of health management at the General Directorate of Health in Cienfuegos, informed in a press conference that “the majority of cases are concentrated in four blocks of that neighborhood, where they are executing a focal control of the disease, which has an incubation period ranging from 15 to 50 days,” indicated a note on the website of the local channel Perlavisión.
Water Crisis in Santiago de Cuba: Key Questions and Answers
The severe water supply issues in Santiago de Cuba have led to extreme measures by residents. This section addresses some of the key questions surrounding the crisis.
Why are residents of Santiago de Cuba collecting water from a street leak?
Residents are forced to collect water from a street leak due to a prolonged lack of piped water service, which has lasted over two weeks in some areas.
What dangers are associated with collecting water from street leaks?
Collecting water from street leaks compromises its quality and safety, and can lead to contamination and diseases such as diarrhea.
How has the government responded to the water crisis in Santiago de Cuba?
The first secretary of the Party in Santiago de Cuba, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, asked residents not to despair and promised that everyone would get "a little bit of water" within a week.
Are there similar water supply issues in other parts of Cuba?
Yes, similar issues have been reported in other parts of Cuba, such as an increase in hepatitis A cases in the Reina neighborhood of Cienfuegos, which has prompted health alerts and epidemiological surveillance measures.