BAYAMO, Cuba, Sep 09 (IPS) – In a single day, a whole bunch of individuals within the rural group of Las Mangas, situated in Granma province in japanese Cuba, realised one thing that they had already suspected: that the water that they had been consuming for many years was not precisely crystal clear, however reasonably “salty”, as they are saying.
It was actually a optimistic change, due to a desalination plant that began working in August, 5 years after building started in 2019, with a US$ 61,000 funding by the Granma Provincial Delegation of Hydraulic Sources.
“We did a check and the water coming from the plant freezes clear, whereas the water from the road freezes white, due to impurities. Now, with the plant, the persons are completely satisfied,” group consultant Rodolfo Echavarría, 55, informed IPS.
Las Mangas is a part of the municipality of Bayamo, the provincial capital, some 740 kilometres east of Havana. It has water networks that carry water from a nicely to the connections within the homes.
Nevertheless, the water supply accommodates a salinity fee exceeding one gram of soluble salts per litre of water, the restrict permitted for human consumption by the nation’s well being authorities.
“The desalination plant was constructed on the outlet of this brackish nicely, serving as an easy accessibility level (the place individuals can fetch the processed liquid with containers),” defined Yasser Vázquez, deputy sub-delegate of the Water Sources Delegation in Granma, in an interview with IPS in Bayamo.
The brand new facility, the third of its sort within the province, processes 2,000 litres of water a day and, in accordance with the planners’ estimates, advantages 1,097 inhabitants. Echavarría believes that quantity rises to nearly 2,000 individuals, for the reason that villages of El Chungo, La Bayamesa and Santa María, all greater than three kilometres from Las Mangas, additionally profit.
The plant’s purification system makes use of the reverse osmosis technique, probably the most widespread globally. There are others equivalent to distillation, freezing, hydrate formation, flash evaporation or electrodialysis.
Reverse osmosis includes making use of stress to brackish water and making it move by means of a semi-permeable membrane whose position is to permit the solvent (water) to move by means of, however not the solute (dissolved salts).
In essence, the water in a pressurised saline resolution is separated from the dissolved salts because it passes by means of the membrane after which goes by means of additional rounds of filtration and chemical injection till it reaches the required requirements of potability.
A neighborhood resident, Yoel González, 52, was educated to function the plant and is in command of its upkeep.
“You must know the way it works, as a result of there are issues that may go improper, as has occurred. I’ve lived all my life in Las Mangas and the perfect factor that has occurred right here is that this (the set up of the desalination plant). Water has all the time been troublesome. We used to drink that brackish water, and you may style the acid and salt in it,” he informed IPS.
A change of surroundings, or reasonably, of waters
On this village eight kilometres from the town of Bayamo, between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm, when the desalination plant opens, individuals collect on the web site’s solely present faucet and fill various-sized containers.
The water popping out of the faucet in each dwelling or facility in Las Mangas, the brackish water that hardly comes out of the nicely chlorinated, is simply used for cleansing, dishes, laundry and typically cooking. On this agricultural and livestock farming village, some farmers additionally use it to quench their animals’ thirst.
“When the plant was arrange, individuals stated in the beginning: ‘I drink it from the road, I have been consuming all of it my life and I have not died’. Cubans are like that. However after they tried the brand new one, every thing modified,” argued Echavarría, the group chief.
Nancy Gómez, 72, was born there and is without doubt one of the few individuals who resists the change.
“The neighbours are shocked as a result of I do not search for recent water, however I am used to it and it has by no means precipitated me any well being issues. My youngsters grew up consuming that (brackish) water. However my granddaughter does deliver it from the plant for the kids and I drink it once in a while. You may style the distinction,” she informed IPS.
Oscar Fajardo, 50, has all the time prevented consuming water from the nicely since he moved to Las Mangas 4 years in the past from Guasimilla, eight kilometres away.
In his dwelling city, the water tasted recent and “candy”, so he by no means obtained used to the brand new saltiness. Even after transferring away, Fajardo nonetheless fetched it in Guasimilla on his electrical motorcycle each time he visited his mom.
“I’d search for water there or somewhere else. Generally I needed to drink the unhealthy one, however after seeing the sediment that gathered within the knobs and pots, I attempted to keep away from it. Folks right here have tailored to consuming brackish water, however just a few discovered alternative routes,” he informed IPS.
Whereas it was widespread to boil and drink the faucet water, some individuals who knew higher or had more cash would go to Bayamo or El Chungo to fill their very own family containers, or purchase the liquid from house owners of horse-drawn carts, who would promote 200 litres for the equal of US$ 0.40.
“The desalination plant is a superb profit, a marvel. If one thing as essential as water isn’t good, think about the injury it causes to well being,” stated Fajardo.
Risks of salinated water
The dangers of consuming water with extra salt are various: upset abdomen, dehydration, hypertension, fluid retention within the physique or kidney injury.
In any case, salt accommodates, along with the chloride electrolyte, sodium, a mineral dangerous to the human physique in some ways when ingested in giant portions.
The World Well being Organisation (WHO) recommends an consumption of not more than 5 grams of salt per day, equal to 2 grams (2000 mg) of sodium.
González, the operator of the Las Mangas desalination plant, stated the group has a number of instances of kidney stones (additionally known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis), that are exhausting deposits made from minerals and salts that type contained in the kidneys and might have an effect on any a part of the urinary tract.
They might have arisen from extended consumption of brackish water, as a number of villagers interviewed by IPS suspect.
“Certainly one of my youngsters complains when he urinates due to the stones, and he will get renal colics on a regular basis,” stated Gómez, the resident who’s reluctant to drink the water processed by the plant.
Marisol Hildago, 37, additionally a resident of Las Mangas and mom of two, used to drink faucet water till one thing precipitated her to start out in search of water from El Chungo.
“My father suffered from power renal insufficiency and that is why I began to search for water there. Now we solely drink water from the plant and my father has improved,” she informed IPS.
Water points within the province
Las Mangas isn’t the one group in Granma with water-related points. There are others the place the subsurface basins and water sources have excessive ranges of salinity, which regularly obtain consuming water from tanker vehicles.
Granma, referred to as the ‘Key to the Cauto’ (river), the place the longest watercourse in all of the Antilles flows at 343 kilometres, additionally has a low-isometric reduction and boggy areas, which makes it extra susceptible to seawater encroachment and saline intrusion into the water desk, as occurs in Las Mangas and different locations.
Some students declare that the river’s move has decreased partially on account of local weather change, deforestation and the development of the Cauto del Paso reservoir, the third largest within the nation and inaugurated in 1992.
With the decreasing of the river degree, seawater encroaches with better drive by means of the course itself, affecting the water basins of some lands on the mouth of the Cauto.
This province with 804,000 individuals – in a rustic with a inhabitants of 10 million – has had a steady water scenario with its provide sources for the reason that heavy rains of June 2023, which, along with filling reservoirs and restoring the water desk, destroyed a part of the infrastructure.
Granma usually suffers from droughts which, in accordance with water authorities, have an effect on as much as 100,000 of its inhabitants.
When this occurs, river move decreases and saline intrusion from the ocean will increase, disabling quite a few wells, particularly the shallower, artisanal ones, that are an answer for residents in locations which are troublesome to entry.
The opposite main drawback lies within the accessibility of water networks and the supply of the service, as solely 76% of the province’s inhabitants receives piped water of their houses and solely 38.7% (some 310,000 individuals) obtain water at dwelling at the very least as soon as each three days.
Different extra affected areas, such because the coastal municipality of Manzanillo, can get water provides for as much as 20 days. In all, greater than 66,000 residents are equipped by water tankers.
An extra 15 desalination crops are deliberate for Granma, to be added to the handfuls present all through the nation. Within the final decade, the Cuban authorities has promoted the development of those hydraulic works, each in communities with salinised water sources and in industries and seaside resorts.
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