Water is vital for life, and the service of the precious liquid is of constant concern for those who consume it and for those who make it possible for it to reach the homes and establishments of the municipality of Contramaestre.
It is not only the concern, but also the realization of concrete actions necessary to maintain that vitality that becomes so complex in times of an economic and financial crisis that our country is going through and the negative consequences caused by the unjust blockade imposed by the government of the United States to Cuba.
It is no secret that in addition to the intense drought that caused a shortage of water supply sources during the first months of the year, there are objective causes that affect the quality of the distribution service, such as the breakage of pumps, transportation due to the lack of tires, batteries, fuel and spare parts, mainly for the pipes that distribute water to the 29 communities of the municipality where it does not arrive through the aqueduct network.
Yordanis Rodríguez Coss, director of the Aguas Turquino Oeste Unit which serves the municipalities Contramaestre and Tercer Frente, details the negative effects of the blockade in this basic unit and points out that:
“At the moment we have several places with a lack of equipment and although contracting has been done, it has not been possible for the country to purchase this equipment. Another situation affected by the US blockade is technical. Our unit does not have a pit car because we do not have the batteries or tires to start it up. Another problem we have in the company is that practically everything depends on fuel and we are also affected by the lack of spare parts which are not marketed, they cannot be bought anywhere because of the blockade. Also the pumping equipment is obsolete and does not have the efficiency it should have”.
Striving for quality waters
It is not a question of blaming everything on the blockade, but of being clear, firstly, that the blockade does exist and that we can feel it in our own flesh as they say in good Cuban language; secondly, of acting to alleviate the negative effects caused by it in every sphere of daily life, with the application of innovation, science and technology, with the ingenuity of men and women who strive to take a little piece out of every difficulty every day. In this municipality, strategies are adopted to minimize these difficulties as much as possible.
Marcial Pérez Naranjo, investment and maintenance specialist at the aforementioned entity, stated that:
“The company makes the high density pipe but the raw material is imported, as well as the accessories that are placed in the distribution networks such as the sleeves, the connections, the tapping collars. We manufacture tees, elbows, crosses in order to provide the best possible service. When there is a leak in front of a house, we always try to eliminate it, but often there is not the necessary resource. If the leak is in a service connection and it is a simple leak, it is not a big problem, because we replace the connection with a stretch of hose or we use an accessory for the service that we almost always invent here and we solve the problem”.
But life does not stop, so it is necessary to continue with the search for alternatives to solve each problem, always thinking about satisfying the needs of the population. This should be the highest aspiration of those who provide services to the people.
“We reduce and enlarge the diameters of the pipes, if it is one inch we take it to sixteen or half an inch. We also take it to two inches, to an inch and a half; always trying to solve the leak as soon as possible. We have two investments planned for this year, to finish the water pipeline in Maffo-Moscú, the one we have in Arrollo Ceiba, for major maintenance and we are waiting for the complete Napoles, which also depends on the inflow of resources. Guaninao is also in plan but we have not started to execute it due to lack of resources.
It is essential for the Turquino Oeste Water Unit in Contramaestre that the water service reaches everyone,
“We are a service company and we would like water to arrive 24 hours a day, but unfortunately we have all these deficiencies”, concluded the investor.
