Spain Providing $164 Million for Safe Drinking Water Projects in Latin America

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Seven Latin American countries will benefit from contributions approved on the 15th of October by the Spanish government amounting to 117.2 million Euros ($164 million) for projects providing safe drinking water and improving aqueducts and sanitation.

The contributions are intended for projects in Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic and will be managed by the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund of Spain’s AECID international development agency. There will also be a complementary contribution of 12.9 million Euros ($18 million) to finance new projects to be carried out in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank.

About 120 million people lack access systems for potable water and basic health services in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to figures released earlier this year at the 2nd Latin American Sanitation Conference.

Related news: Guatemala: US$ 100 million from Spain and the IDB to improve water and sanitation services, Source News, 21 January 2010.

EFE Source : Herald Tribune, 18 October 2010.

Cuban Local Authorities Strengthen Control of Water Distribution

The drought hitting Cuba for over a year now forced Ciego de Avila’s local authorities to strengthen measures to further control the rational use of drinking water.  A new schedule for the pumping of the liquid to residential and economic areas in the northern and western region of the city was established, announced Sergio Barrios, provincial representative of the Water Resources office.

The measure is part of a program implemented by the Provincial Administration Council seeking to protect the province’s aquifer, which is one of the most important in the country. Fifteen hydrogeological sectors are under a warning due to the effects of the drought that has affected the country since November 2008 and was intensified in 2009.

In addition to the weather conditions, Barrios mentioned the waste of water by consumers and leakages in old pipelines have caused a drop in the amount of collected water.

 The pumping hours in 13 water pumping stations supplying agricultural plantations were also regulated, said the Agriculture delegate Emilio Varela. Varela added that all agricultural enterprises and cooperative units have been demanded to extreme actions to make irrigation more efficient.

The five water reservoirs are filled only to their 32 percent total, one of them is filled only to the seven percent of its full capacity. The lack of rains have caused a drop in the production of plantain,sugar cane and milk, and water tankers have had to be sent to cattle raiding farms in certain communities.

Related news: Cuba: lanzan campaña en favor del ahorro de agua, Boletin de Noticias, 27 May 2010

Source: Cuban Daily news, 21 Jun 2010

AH1N1 Virus Keeps Striking Cuba

For the fifth week in a row, the number of H1N1 cases continues to grow throughout the country, said Dr. Otto Pelaez Sanchez, head of the Transmissible Diseases Department of the Cuban Public Health ministry.

During the week, 93 new cases of Influenza A (H1N1) virus were confirmed by the National Influenza Virus Labs of the Tropical Medicine Institute Pedro Kouri, Granma reported on Saturday.

Based on the situation, people were called to strictly follow personal and collective hygiene measures indicated by health authorities and to visit the doctor as soon as any symptoms of flu appear.

In reference to the national vaccination campaign against the H1N1 virus to conclude on Tuesday, April 2, Dr. Pelaez Sanchez said 981,130 people (87.4 percent), selected based on risk factors, have received the shot. Of them78, 915 are either pregnant women or have given birth recently, representing 99.7 percent of the total.

Dr. Pelaez Sanchez said the people who have been vaccinated remain under strict watch so that they can receive immediate medical care in case of severe reactions, although no serious side-effects of the vaccine have been reported so far. Among minor adverse reactions are headaches, pain in the area of the shot, fever, tiredness and allergies.

Source: Trabajadores.cu, 25/04/2010

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

Although more than 95% of Cubans have access to potable water, approximately 15,000l of water (50% of all water supplied) is lost each month due to leaks in the pipelines. 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.

Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 12 Jan 2010

Cuba: Kuwait to loan US$15.4mn for Holguín water supply project

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has signed an agreement with the Cuban government to loan the country 4.4mn Kuwaiti dinars (US$15.4mn) for a project to rehabilitate the water supply system in Holguín city.

Photo: Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development

The project will involve rehabilitating and modernizing wastewater treatment plants, potable water distribution networks, pumping stations and storage tanks in Holguín, located in the province of the same name.

The work will be carried out over four years.

This is the second agreement the fund has signed with Cuba, the first being a loan of 3.1mn Kuwaiti dinars for a project to rehabilitate the potable water supply system in Santiago de Cuba.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development was founded in 1961 and began aiding the Caribbean region in the 1990s. Since its inception, it has given over 12bn Kuwaiti dinars (US$42bn) in loans to more than 100 countries around the world.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 23 Nov 2009 ; Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, 25 Nov 2009