Erichel Martínez Betancourt is a hydraulic engineer who has led, from its very genesis, the investment in the water treatment plant built near the Juan Sáez dam, in the municipality of Jesús Menéndez.

He says that those closest to him even make jokes about "I think you are going to retire building in that place." He smiles, a little in jest and a little to hide the thousand and one feelings that accompany him in that sense.

It is not that he considers that the execution will take so long, but it is clear that it has rained a lot since June 2017, when work officially began on a project that was conceived to conclude in much less time than has been necessary.

The initial rhythm was good; the technological platform, the chemical and administrative buildings were finished, the equipment was installed and arrived at these lands complete, in 2019, and the money from the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources every year to guarantee the work was not lacking, nor has it ever been lacking.

However, despite that, the works were slowing down in stages, encountering stumbling blocks of every caliber, which included economic crisis, pandemic, shortages, and even, at least so expressed to 26 sad locals, an evident delinquency in the follow-up, attention and support to the works from the directive structures of the territory.

Right now, the water treatment plant in Chaparra is a sensitive issue. And they are right. About 9 kilometers (km) from the village is the mighty Juan Sáez dam, the reservoir that looks like an imposing sea and when you open the tap in the homes, there is nothing.

"Because before," a neighbor from El Batey told us, "at least water from the dam used to fall into the houses, and could be used for cleaning and such things, but for more than a year now, not even that. And it is terrible to know that we have been decades close to an immense reservoir, that when it relieves, it scares us, and we have to wait for the rotation that brings water every 20 days."

We talked about this with Alexander González Hidalgo, head of the Engineering Department of the Municipal Aqueduct Directorate. He told us that the motors of the three pumps that were mounted in the system of the "Juan Sáez" dam have problems and, in addition, the pump that gave water to the Batey until the end of the well-known 23rd Street has damages that have not been solved even in the workshops of the Antonio Guiteras sugar agroindustry. The situation has been going on there for a year, and the water pipes - he clarified - are not reaching all the houses either.

For Erichel, however, the effort is not limited to one neighborhood. "The water treatment plant will benefit some 24,000 people between Chaparra and Delicias (Puerto Padre); and the investment, to which the Provincial Party has given a lot of impetus since last year, now occupies about 12 percent of the territory's budget.

"We are engaged in the completion of the pumping station, which is the fundamental work object of the critical route that we have traced for the works to advance."

"We are in the part of the approach channel (the place where the water reaches the pumps), which is basically what is missing for the completion of the civil works of the station. Then will come the technological assembly of the pumps to carry the liquid to the drinking water treatment plant."

"This year, we plan to build five km of networks in Chaparra and three in Delicias, and we already have 29 km of polyethylene pipes that have been ready since 2017; that is why we maintain the intention of giving the investment value of use before next December. For which we count on the micro-aqueduct systems of the communities, which will be very useful."

He knows every inch of these sites, knows the details and dates of their delays, and defends his workers for the reason that comes from experience on-site.

Because he knows about the daily effort in tough conditions; he lives closely with the challenges of keeping the brigade that always arrives from Puerto Padre committed (with a daily expenditure of about 25 liters of fuel in those tasks), and he sees them dealing with low salaries in contrast to the enormous work they face.

But what is true is that the effort of a collective is far from being enough for high-flying endeavors. In other words, it would be something like the saying "A swallow does not make a summer", which we hear so much from our elders.

In addition to the eagerness, the watermaker, when you undo it, it hurts. We learned that last year it was necessary to repair the roof of the building that protects the technology before it was even put into operation; some parts seem to need a coat of paint to prevent rust, because, no matter how much care and work is taken, idle equipment, without operation, for about five years, is unlikely to be as optimal as the case requires.

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This is a reality that has not borne fruit for too many years, and now, when the dynamics of work are trying to reverse it without regard, it is time to hold on to momentum, teamwork, and hope.

All so that, in those lands far from the hustle and bustle of the city, water, that divine treasure indispensable for existence, ceases to be a problem. Something that should have happened a long time ago.