The state company Aguas de La Habana announced this Sunday a severe disruption in the supply of drinking water to several municipalities in the Cuban capital, caused by what it described as a "complex malfunction in the hydraulic infrastructure" that necessitated an emergency shutdown of the main pipeline of the Central System.
According to the entity's report on its Facebook profile, the breakdown combines a rupture in the 78-inch pipe of the Cuenca Sur supply source with three significant leaks located in the same source. The municipalities directly affected are Plaza de la Revolución, Diez de Octubre, Cerro, Centro Habana, Habana Vieja, and part of Boyeros.
The company assured that "teams of specialized technicians and workers are in place to carry out the repair work," with efforts concentrated at the critical points of Manresa, Espina de Pescado, and wells 9 and 12.
However, Aguas de La Habana did not provide any estimated date for resolution and only requested that residents of Havana show "understanding and patience while the complex repair work is carried out."
The breakdown this Sunday is not an isolated incident. Just nine days earlier, a rupture in the 1,000 mm pipe of the Gato System left Regla, Habana del Este, San Miguel del Padrón, Guanabacoa, and Diez de Octubre without service.
The increase in impacts throughout 2026 has been steady: in April, more than 200,000 Havana residents lost regular access to water due to power outages that paralyzed the pumps; in May, the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources confirmed that 376,055 people were affected in the capital; and in July, specialists from Aguas de La Habana raised that number to over 500,000 affected.
The structural deterioration of the system is acknowledged even by sources outside the regime. According to an investigation by Diario de Cuba based on a report from ICEX, an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, "a very significant portion of the water that is pumped never reaches its destination due to the degradation of the distribution networks."
The investments announced by the regime —over 88 million pesos in 2025— have seen slow implementation and, according to Diario de Cuba, have prioritized hotel facilities, which are practically empty today, rather than the networks that supply the population.
In response to the collapse of the ordinary system, the government turned in July to military water trucks to supply critical areas such as El Cotorro, and in August installed 20 manual pumps in East Havana as an emergency measure. In the parallel market, private trucks are sold for between 18,000 and 60,000 Cuban pesos.
The magnitude of the problem is reflected in a survey by Cubadata conducted in 2026 with 1,807 respondents nationwide: 46.6% face a lack of water daily or several times a week, and 71.4% at least once a week. Only 9.3% claimed to have no supply issues.
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