After more than ten days without running water, the residents of this Havana neighborhood are taking advantage of the rains to fill their tanks.
By Juan Diego Rodríguez (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – Monday’s rain was received in some streets of Luyano, Havana, with more enthusiasm than any announcement of water infrastructure investments. After more than ten days without running water, the residents of this Havana neighborhood have found in the sky a supplier far more reliable than the state. While it’s not potable, it also doesn’t require contracts, send inspectors, or promise that service will be restored within hours. It simply turns on the tap whenever it feels like it.
On a street lined with peeling facades, weathered balconies, and doorways that have seen too many crises, the rain has got the residents moving. A man loads an enormous blue tank onto a small wheelbarrow. Beside him, a plastic container fills, little by little, with the stream cascading from a rooftop. The scene has something of a communal water distribution day, only this time the supplier is several kilometers above their heads.
For decades, Cubans have developed a domestic engineering of buckets, basins, hoses, and recycled containers to store as much water as possible. These emergency solutions have become a regular part of urban life. If the sky clouds over, the first thing they do is not to rush to grab an umbrella, but rather some container to collect every drop they can obtain from nature.
This Monday, from early morning, the rain soaked the street, trickled from the eaves, and poured from the roofs. What in other circumstances would be an annoyance for passersby became a not-to-be missed opportunity. Every liter collected could be used to flush a toilet, clean the floor, or wash clothes. The residents of Luyano had to look upwards to solve the problem of what should be coming down from below.
In this case, the weather report has proven more useful than the promises of those responsible for the aqueduct.
Translated by Translating Cuba.