Kevin Martínez, owner of a restaurant in Matanzas, made a decision that not long ago would have seemed unthinkable: he ordered a well to be drilled on his own property so that he wouldn't have to close it every time the water runs out. His story, captured by the agency AFP, reflects the desperation of thousands of Cubans caught in an unprecedented water crisis.
"On several occasions, we had to close the establishment because we didn't have water... and that was what led us to the point of having to dig the well," he explained.
The entrepreneur hired the well digger Elizardo Cardoso, who found water at a depth of 10 meters. "I never imagined I would have to dig a well, just as I never imagined I would have to cook with coal or install solar panels," he added.
The decision, although "somewhat expensive," relieved him from having to buy private water trucks three times a week. The price has skyrocketed from 4,000 to as much as 10,000 pesos for a 4,000-liter tanker.
On any street in the country, it is common to see people filling tanks and carrying buckets to their homes, some even taking them up the stairs on foot.
According to official data, water does not reach the homes of 2.7 million Cubans, nearly 29% of the 9.4 million inhabitants of the Island. Yunior González, a senior official of the national Water and Sanitation company, acknowledged to AFP that between 80% and 85% of the distributed water must be pumped to reach households, which turns every power outage into an automatic interruption of supply.
Yusimy Guerra, a mother of two children aged 40, describes the situation: "Power outages happen here every day, and we have to keep hauling water. It's a daily struggle."
The dependence of the pumping system on the electrical grid —87% of Cuban aqueducts operate this way— is one of the causes of the crisis. This is compounded by pipes that are between 60 and 70 years old, which lose between 40% and 70% of the water before it reaches the taps, equipment breakdowns, and a persistent drought.
More and more Cubans are digging wells in their backyards with pick and shovel, building cisterns, or resorting to so-called "thief pumps," which suck water from the public network and force it into their homes, reducing pressure for the rest of the neighborhood.
In Manzanillo, a team of well diggers manually drilled a 36-meter well without machinery, generating astonishment. In Matanzas, the number of hand-dug wells in the La Playa neighborhood increased from 20 to over 40 in just a few months, in response to the instability of the water supply and the prolonged absence of service.
The crisis has also sparked social protest. Municipalities in Havana registered several demonstrations due to water shortages in recent months, with street blockades in Diez de Octubre, Jaimanitas, Old Havana, and Arroyo Naranjo.
The regime claims to have taken measures: the historic Albear Aqueduct — inaugurated in 1893 and a source of supply for five municipalities in the capital — has incorporated two large diesel backup generators, and more than 870 solar-powered water pumps have been installed out of the planned 1,300, benefiting half a million Cubans.
The government also plans to develop 200 megawatts of photovoltaic parks dedicated to pumping, with the expectation of reducing dependence on the national electricity system starting in 2027.
However, the authorities themselves warn that these are very costly programs, and therefore, they will not address the urgent needs of a population that can no longer wait for institutional solutions and is digging its own wells by hand.
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