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

Although more than 95% of Cubans have access to potable water, approximately 15,000l of water is lost each month due to leaks in the pipelines, Cuban daily Granma reported.

The losses amount to over 50% of the water being supplied in the country.

To rectify the situation, the national water resources institute (INRH) has drawn up a plan to repair the infrastructure over a period of 10-15 years, the report said.

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 program, 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.

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