The main reason for the water crisis, which a large part of the population of Las Tunas is experiencing today, is not the lack of water, because the reservoirs now have a sufficient volume to cover the demand; the cause is the deterioration of the territory's pumping equipment.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Piedad Herrera Núñez, director of the basic business unit (UEB) of Aqueduct and Sewerage in this city, explained it via telephone to 26 and we listened to her knowing that hers are arguments that she has given us other times and that we have also shared in this media.
But, of course, no explanation is enough if you open the sink and nothing falls for more than a week, and neither do pipes or other means appear for the vital liquid to alleviate the crisis that, whether you like it or not, ends up being desperate at times.
We asked her the questions that, without mincing words, we have received through social media and from those who, in the street, question us: How long with the water, don't they say they are repairing it, why doesn't it reach the houses with all the rain that has fallen, what is needed for the people to see the impact of the investments they make and publish in their official profiles?
Piedad, used to receive calls with complaints about these issues and giving answers and more answers, would also like to have the solutions in hand, but she says, they are not within the province's reach. "And the country knows it, they are busy supporting us in this situation, but they don't have a material answer in the short term.
What does that mean that nobody responds to the water in Las Tunas? "Of course not. We have become the kings of inventiveness and we manage to pump water with the support of many people who do everything possible so that the drops are not lost."
"We have pumping equipment because we repaired and recovered them with the support of ACINOX Las Tunas and other entities, but we fix them today, and they are damaged tomorrow. So, for the moment, it seems that everything is going well and, at the slightest detail, something breaks, and the crisis returns.
"To give you a clear idea, in the case of El Rincón, for example, there is a recently installed pump that allows us to pump 80 liters of water per second; and that, which to the eyes of those who do not know, seems a lot; however, it is below what that reservoir needs, which is a pump of around 160 liters per second.
"In Piedra Hueca, we use only one water well because of the same problem, damage to the pumping equipment. That is where the water is only coming from at the moment, with a pressure of 56 liters per second. When it reaches the city that is nothing."
The expert knows that other evils underlie this network because the city has grown in population and needs the liquid, but the sources of supply are still the same; the pipes have stretches of deterioration, people steal it to feed the cattle in the fields and crops; and even the water used in the "private business" that is born and is, by far, the family's livelihood.
Her explanation included the sensitive issue of the tank trucks. "With that, we prioritize the hospitals, the hemodialysis service, for example, and all the work of that very important Health area; in addition, the children's circles and other centers that cannot stop to provide services that are vital to the population.
"On Sunday, tractors from the Community Services Company were added to support some places such as the center of the city, the area of Los Galanos and we know that it is not enough, even, generally noble places, where the water arrives almost by gravity, are presenting problems these days."
Listening to her confirms that the current situation is very difficult; therefore, the call remains to increase the reservoirs in homes and to collaborate, from the social discipline, with the investments that are being made. All of them, by the way, focused on reducing the tension of the situation, and none of them directly committed to the replacement of pumping equipment.
