Cuba: INRH to repair water network over 10-15 years

Although more than 95% of Cubans have access to potable water, monthly losses due to leaks in the pipelines amount to over 50% of the water being supplied in the country, Cuban daily Granma reported. To rectify this situation, the National Water Resources Institute (INRH) has drawn up a plan to repair the infrastructure over a period of 10-15 years, Granma reported.

The leaks are mainly due to the age of the network as many pipelines are between 50 and 100 years old. Efforts to repair leaks have not been successful; as once one leak is eliminated the build-up of water pressure causes another. Therefore, authorities have decided the only permanent solution is to replace the complete network, the report said.

Some of the most affected cities are capital La Habana, Santiago, Holguín, Camagüey and Las Tunas. In the capital, some 2,500km of pipelines are to be restored within five years. To carry out the rehabilitation programme, three high density polyethylene pipeline manufacturing companies have been built. The firms are located in Ciego de Ávila, Holguín and La Habana. This year, INRH plans to work on 900km of pipelines throughout the country for which the factories will have to produce between 12,000t and 15,000t of raw materials, the report said.

Source: BNamericas.com, [subscription site], 12 Jan 2010.

Related news in Spanish: Cuba: más de la mitad del agua potable se pierde por deterioro de las redes de distribución, Boletin de Noticias, 31 enero 2010.

Related site: National Water Resources Institute - INRH

Keywords

• Latin America & Caribbean
• Technology
• Urban WASH
• Water supply - Water distribution