A new break in the main supply pipeline has left large areas of Santiago de Cuba without water, just six days after the city experienced an identical breakdown in the same infrastructure.
The Water and Sewer Company Aguas Santiago reported through the local television channel Tvsantiago that on Wednesday morning "a failure occurred in the 1,000 mm HDPE pipe, located in Micro 7, Gascón."
The new crack strikes again in a city that was just beginning to recover its water supply after the break that left all of Santiago de Cuba without water last Friday, July 10.
According to the official statement, the break caused a drop in the water inflow to the Quintero 1 and 2 Water Treatment Plants, which began operating with an average output of only 1,000 liters per second.
In light of the severity of the ruling, the company ordered the complete shutdown of the pipeline and suspended service to all hydrometric sectors that were receiving water.
The supply has been reserved exclusively for healthcare facilities: the Clinical Surgical Hospital, the Blood Bank, the Children's Hospital South, and the Military Hospital, along with the circuits located in their vicinity and along the central highway.
"To ensure a reduction in spending on the conductor, total closure. The conductor brigades are ready to tackle the work continuously and aim to complete it in the shortest possible time," stated Aguas Santiago in their announcement, without specifying a concrete timeframe for the repairs.
What the official statement does not mention is the alarming pattern revealed by this new breakdown: the same 1,000 mm high-density polyethylene pipe had already failed on July 10, just six days earlier, which forced crews to carry out welds in the rain for several days until the work was completed between July 13 and 14.
Two breakages in less than a week in the same infrastructure are not a coincidence: they are the stark expression of the structural deterioration accumulated over decades of government neglect and indifference.
This pipeline had already collapsed in July 2024, leaving 80% of the city without water for several days, and it failed again last March, with repairs not starting until April 3.
The Quintero system, which supplies 80% of Santiago de Cuba, operates well below its capacity, exacerbated by the electrical crisis that halts the pumping stations.
Since July 7, the Gota Blanca station has completely ceased operation, further reducing the water flow into the system.
The engineering director of Aguas Santiago, Orlando Romero Veranes, officially acknowledged that the direct cause of the collapse is the inability to operate the pumping stations with such little electricity, an admission that directly points to the regime's responsibility in the country's energy management.
More than 60% of the water distributed in the city is not chlorinated due to failures in the generators, which has led to outbreaks of dengue and hepatitis A among the population.
Areas like El Cristo had gone up to 48 days without water before the breakdown on July 10, and the protests in Santiago de Cuba have become a regular occurrence since July 1, with chants of "We want electricity!" and "Freedom!"
In April, the UN classified the water situation in Santiago de Cuba as one of "systemic humanitarian impact," a description that the Cuban government has not translated into any structural solutions for the people of Santiago.
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