The scarcity of rainfall and the low levels of water in the wells have caused the number of inhabitants who receive the essential liquid through the use of tank trucks in the province of Las Tunas to rise to 100,000.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Workers of Community Services Company transport water to 450 communities with the use of 130 trucks contracted with entities of Agriculture, the Aqueduct and Sewerage Company, as well as non-state providers.

Engineer Jorge Luis Cruz Cuello, from the Provincial Directorate of Community Services, acknowledged that the worst situation is being faced by the municipality of Manatí, in whose urban area the delivery frequency is up to 27 days.

The situation there is, fundamentally, due to the low availability of water in the loading docks, which only allows the filling of seven to 10 tankers daily, out of the 30 that are needed.

Cruz Cuello commented that railway workers also contribute to the effort to mitigate the impact of the drought, who take the liquid by train to 31 neighborhoods in Puerto Padre and Manatí, on routes of about 100 kilometers.

He explained that the supply cycles to the communities in the province without aqueduct service are between 15 and 16 days, a task that has the guarantee of fuel.

Similarly, guaranteeing water supply despite the instability of the electrical service has been a major task in Las Tunas in recent months.

Maikel Cervantes Arrieta, deputy director of the provincial Aqueduct and Sewerage Company, highlighted the effort to ensure the operation of the generator sets used in the pumping stations and water loading docks.

"Only the one in Aguada de Vázquez (Puerto Padre) does not work, due to breaks in its electronic card, the 16 installed for when the service of the National Electro Energetic System is interrupted.

"The Piedra Hueca and El Rincón stations, sources that supply 75 percent of the population of the city of Las Tunas, have generator sets that have ensured pumping during this time of energy contingency."

“ have strengthened working ties with the Electric Company in each municipality to protect the circuits where the water treatment plants are located, as in Cayojo, the only one in the provincial capital that does not have an alternative power generator,” he said.

It was decided to authorize the pumping even during peak hours if due to lack of electricity it could not have been done earlier so that this service to the population is not affected - Cervantes Arrieta stressed.