Bayamo, Mar 30, (RHC), – Some 80 thousand people in 82 communities in the eastern province of Granma are under the impact of severe drought which affects domestic water consumption as local authorities take emergency measures to relieve their situation.

The lack of rains has not allowed recovering reservoir levels to guarantee water supply in the region, add to this the exhausted underground and surface sources, said the director of the Aqueduct and Sewage Company in Granma, Eric Benitez.

The most affected populations are in remote mountainous areas and along the plains of the Cauto River. These settlements are now being provided water through cistern trucks, Benitez explained.

At the same time, engineering forces are repairing pipes in order to lower the amount of water lost in leaks along the networks and improve the supply. Along with local actions like these ones, some investment are now being considered for the region, while others are underway, such as the drilling of 11 new water wells in areas hard hit by the drought and the import of pumping equipment for six communities.

The official said they were lucky that the drought has not affected that hard other water sources that provide the natural resource to larger cities like Bayamo and Manzanillo with the largest population in the province.