Work is scheduled to be completed by summer to ease the water shortage which has most severely affected the provinces of Las Tunas, Holguin and Camaguey.

Once the line is built, a pumping station will send water from the Cauto el Paso reservoir located in Granma to the El Rincon reservoir in Las Tunas.

Located 10 km outside Las Tunas, El Rincon reservoir has a capacity of 20 million cubic meters and is the principal water source for this city of 132,000. Currently the reservoir is virtually empty.

The La Cana basin is the second-most important water source for Las Tunas and is also at critically low-levels; but is still able to supply a few neighborhoods.

The current situation in the city of Las Tunas has led to the distribution of water by tanker trucks, while many people dig wells and build collective water tanks to deal with the shortage.

The province’s other seven municipalities are facing a similar situation and farmers in Las Tunas have been forced to transfer some 65,000 head of cattle to areas less affected by the drought.

By: Ahora