Havana residents have responded angrily with comments on social media and official media, as municipalities have been without water for days.
14ymedio, Havana, July 22, 2024 — A new breakdown in Havana’s hydraulic infrastructure is making the water shortage in the capital catastrophic. As reported by Aguas de La Habana on Monday, an “electrical failure” Sunday night in the high-voltage lines that feed the South Basin supply source caused the pumping to be completely interrupted in a “sudden way,” which caused, in turn, several “battering ram blows” – a sudden increase in pressure – to the main pipe, which then collapsed “in three places.”
The authorities promise that “the brigades for repair and maintenance will work without interruption on the transmission network to repair the breakdowns in the shortest possible time at the source of supply.” However, the people of Havana have responded angrily with comments on social networks and official media, since it is not the only breakdown in the Aguas de La Habana system, and some municipalities have been without water for days.
“I would like to know if the people in Altahabana and Boyeros who receive water from Paso Seco are also affected, because we haven’t received it for five days, and on Telegram they only refer to the impacts on the South Basin,” Manuel Quesada commented on Cubadebate.
“That happened on Sunday the 21st, but I live on 10th Street between 21 and 23rd, El Vedado, and we have been affected by the water supply since last month”
Willian Hernandez Torres sounded desperate: “We need water now. That happened on Sunday the 21st, but I live on 10th Street between 21 and 23rd, El Vedado, and we have been affected by the water supply since last month. Right now I haven’t received water since Saturday, July 13, and the reserves have already run out. I won’t be able to go to work, I have to feed myself, the neighbors can’t help us because they are in the same boat, and the water trucks haven’t come here.”
There were multiple protests from El Vedado. “I have a 91-year-old woman at home, bedridden, who cannot move, with very affected skin and in dire need of hygiene,” said A