Forty thousand people in the province of Sancti Spiritus receive water in tankers, as reported by the official press, attributing this situation to the drought and the irregularity with which water enters homes due to power outages, a situation they refer to euphemistically as an "energy contingency."

The situation in the municipality is "critical" in some areas of the province, acknowledges Roberto Nápoles Darias, director of the Provincial Water and Sewer Company, considering that 13,700 residents depend solely on tanker trucks to supply themselves with water.

In Trinidad, for example, the situation is extreme since its main water supply source, San Juan de Letrán, is at its lowest levels and pumps below a third (20 liters per second) of its capacity (95 liters per second), causing water not to reach many areas of this locality. Especially affected are the historic center, high areas, and the popular councils. Additionally, power outages prevent water from reaching the battery of wells that this municipality has.

The province, Darias added, has two drinking water treatment plants: Yayabo and Macaguabo. The second one supplies six out of ten (62%) residents of the main municipality and Cabaiguán. Both plants suffer from the "technological obsolescence" that most public services in the country face, especially noticeable in the electricity supply.

Now an investment would be made to install new pumping equipment in Macaguabo and replace some that have been in operation for 20 years, which supposedly will improve the service provided in Sancti Spíritus and Cabaiguán. In fact, the provincial director says that four engines have already been installed and three of them are operational.

However, this explanation is not convincing, and in the official press itself, a reader reproaches that maintenance has not been carried out on these infrastructures, leading to this situation. "I do not understand who is making the effort between the Government and the people. The Government is not making the effort. What it did not do was foresee that this would happen and waited 20 years to discover technological obsolescence. They discover hot water when it's already boiling."

Actually, the worst-off are the municipalities that depend on the other plant (Yayabo), which the provincial director says pumps half as many liters per second due to the drought because it is working at full capacity. This affects, above all, the central area: park, boulevard, Agramonte, Martí, Máximo Gómez streets, and also the southern part of the city (23 de Diciembre district). In this case, improvements will be noticed if it rains.

Given this situation, authorities have implemented a water truck service that gives priority to schools and healthcare centers, and in the afternoon-evening to residents in the most affected areas. However, they do not specify how many are served, how often, or at what price they receive the water trucks. But they are not cheap. A reader explains that in Trinidad they pay 5,000 pesos per water truck (14.70 dollars).

Poor quality water

The issue in Sancti Spíritus is not only the lack of water but also the poor quality of the water that does arrive. The province saw an increase in cases of acute diarrheal diseases (ADD) last April, attributed by the government to inadequate supply and treatment of drinking water.

Doctor Yurien Negrín Calvo, subdirector of Epidemiology at the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology, stated at that time that the incidence rate in the province was 277.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, but this rate is higher in the municipalities of Jatibonico, Taguasco, La Sierpe, and the main territory.

The management also warned that the precarious hygiene situation in the province contributes to the increase in diarrheal illnesses. But the rise in ARI cases not only affects the province of Sancti Spiritus, as a similar situation was reported in the neighboring province of Ciego de Avila last March.

In all municipalities, except for Chambas and Bolivia, an increase in cases was reported, most commonly affecting children under 15 years of age, especially babies up to one year old. From January to March, that province recorded an 86% increase in cases compared to the same period the previous year.