The lessons of the intense drought that affected the province between 2014 and 2017 were well learned in Ciego de Ávila, to the point that, at the end of January, when 62 percent of the national territory fell below the accumulated historical figures for rainfall, the calls for the rational use of water have not been long in coming.

"You save when you have it, this is the time to save", were the exact words of Edwin González González, provincial delegate of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), after it became known that in 2022 the accumulated rainfall in Ciego de Avila properties They will behave at 79 percent and in January at seven of the estimate for the month. “We are in a hydrological drought,” he asserted.

Ironically, the fuel and electric power deficits, as well as the low availability of pumping equipment, experienced last year played in favor of the Ciego de Avila reservoirs and aquifers, since only 90 percent of the water demanded was consumed. The decrease was also transferred to the first month of 2023, whose annual balance already had a decrease of 19 cubic hectometres.

This reinforces the information offered by Pedro Rodríguez Mora, technical director of the Hydraulic Exploitation Company: the province has three sectors in an unfavorable state (below 50 percent fill of the exploitable volume) and of them the CA-I-9 is the one of greatest concern, although it has a guarantee for the year. "But you have to save," the manager stressed.

His words reassure to some extent a population that already suffered the ravages of an intense and extensive dry period just six years ago, but they set off internal alarms by pointing out that, if it does not rain when spring breaks and the historical average of precipitation remains well below, we will strongly feel the effects of the drought in the water balance in 2024.

• Characterization of the meteorological drought event during the period 2014-2017 in Ciego de Ávila. Read the scientific article here

For the moment, the province's reservoirs are also in a favorable state (64 percent filled), except for the Sabanas Nuevas dam ─it is located in a small and very flat basin, which is why it only receives large volumes during the passage of hydro-meteorological events. extremes─ and Puente Largo, whose function is to serve as a hydraulic stopper for the hydrogeological sectors of the North Basin and, in turn, allow recharge to the mantle (something that is not happening and constitutes a risk to the stability of groundwater).

Among the measures for the adjusted and more efficient use of the vital liquid, the suspension of irrigation one day a week has already been implemented, without affecting the vegetative development of the plantations. However, the absence of representatives of Agriculture in the Commission for the Rational Use of Water, led by the provincial delegation of INRH, calls into question the commitment of the entities with the indication.

Likewise, the importance of concluding the engineering works that allow the section of the operational transfer canal to be put to use was reiterated (it remains to increase the slope to avoid overflows when closing the gates). Azcuba representatives assured that this alone prevents the cane plantations of the Ramón Domínguez de la Peña agricultural production cooperative from beginning to irrigate with these waters.

A note from the Cuban News Agency, dated this week, reads that the Zaza-Ciego canal will also provide gravity irrigation to the first 30 hectares of rice belonging to the Limones Palmero agricultural project, in the municipality of Majagua.

Another of the actions planned in pursuit of savings is the case-by-case review of large consumers, including the new non-state actors in the economy, and the assembly of hydrometers.

Regarding the latter, it was said at the meeting that the territory has some 15,300 installed and that, unfortunately, indiscipline associated with the vandalism of connections and footage equipment has been verified in communities such as La Clementina and El Cartón, benefiting from the water supply drinkable in recent months.

According to the directors of the Aqueduct and Sewerage Company, in January the supply plan to the population was fulfilled at 91 percent, with the delivery of the liquid to about 280,041 clients of this service. Nearly 16,000 inhabitants of the communities of Ciego de Ávila, Ciro Redondo and Baraguá are affected by breaks in pumping stations.