Extreme drought creates concern in Guantanamo, Cuba

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Feb 7 (acn) The decrease in the level of several reservoirs, due to the intense drought that strikes the western part of Guantánamo province, forces a new strategy in the distribution of water to the inhabitants of the provincial capital, Cuba´s sixth most populated city.

The persistence of this natural phenomenon, characterized by the scarcity of the precious liquid for crops and people, affects even the Faustino Perez dam, which today contains less than 20 million cubic meters of water.
That volume means that in less than a month and a half the reservoir has lost over 15 percent of the total amount it stores as reported by the Command Post of the Provincial Hydraulic Resources Office.
The difference is equivalent to 4.5 million cubic meters, with which the population and irrigation needs could be satisfied for several weeks.
Juan Carlos González, deputy provincial director of Hydraulic Resources told ACN that the fall of the dam is due to the almost null rainfalls over its tributary basin, that of the Guaso river.
The accumulated water is a guarantee for the irrigation of vegetables and fruits of the agricultural cooperatives of this area.
A more somber situation is felt in the municipality of Niceto Pérez, where La Yaya, the largest Guantanamo reservoir, entered the so-called dead volume, accumulating less than a fifth of the 160 million cubic meter of water for which it was designed.
Its chances of recovery are at long term, since they depend on the rain and the tribute of Guantánamo River, which also provides water to the province of Santiago Cuba, and is born in the mountains of Songo-La Maya municipality.