Poblado en Cuba sin agua por mas de 18 años

NoticiasCubanet Cuba

Exhorta Cuba a su poblacion a emplear LEJIA en el agua domestica

ante la imposibilidad de garantizar la potabilizacion del agua para el consumo humano por la red de distribucion y ante la presencia de constantes epidemias y enfermedades contagiosas, las autoridades de salud cubanas realizan una campana entre la poblacion para que las propias personas se ocupen de potabilizar el agua con hipoclorito de sodio, mas conocido en cuba como lejia. los errores en la proporciones empleadas  pueden provocar danos severos a la salud humana.

Cuba Hoy

This machine makes drinking water from thin air

CNN.com

Tel Aviv, Israel (CNN) -- Water. A vital nutrient, yet one that is inaccessible to many worldwide.

The World Health Organization reports that 780 million people don't have access to clean water, and 3.4 million die each year due to water-borne diseases. But an Israeli company thinks it can play a part in alleviating the crisis by producing drinking water from thin air.

Water-Gen has developed an Atmospheric Water-Generation Units using its "GENius" heat exchanger to chill air and condense water vapor.

"The clean air enters our GENius heat exchanger system where it is dehumidified, the water is removed from the air and collected in a collection tank inside the unit," says co-CEO Arye Kohavi.

"From there the water is passed through an extensive water filtration system which cleans it from possible chemical and microbiological contaminations," he explains. "The clean purified water is stored in an internal water tank which is kept continuously preserved to keep it at high quality over time."

Several companies tried to extract water from the air ... But the issue is to do it very efficiently.
Arye Kohavi, co-CEO Water-Genius

Energy efficient

Capturing atmospheric humidity isn't a ground-breaking invention in itself -- other companies already sell atmospheric water generators for commercial and domestic use -- but Water-Gen says it has made its water generator more energy efficient than others by using the cooled air created by the unit to chill incoming air.

"Several companies tried to extract water from the air," says Kohavi. "It looks simple, because air conditioning is extracting water from air. But the issue is to do it very efficiently, to produce as much water as you can per kilowatt of power consumed."

He adds: "When you're very, very efficient, it brings us to the point that it is a real solution. Water from air became actually a solution for drinking water."

The system produces 250-800 liters (65-210 gallons) of potable water a day depending on temperature and humidity conditions and Kohavi says it uses two cents' worth of electricity to produce a liter of water.

Civilian uses

Developed primarily for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Water-Gen says it has already sold units to militaries in seven countries, but Kohavi is keen to stress that the general population can also benefit from the technology.

He explains: "We believe that the products can be sold to developing countries in different civilian applications. For example in India, [drinking] water for homes is not available and will also be rare in the future. The Atmospheric Water-Generation Unit can be built as a residential unit and serve as a perfect water supply solution for homes in India."

Kohavi says Water-Gen's units can produce a liter of water for 1.5 Rupees, as opposed to 15 Rupees for a liter of bottled water.

Dirty water

Another product Water-Gen has developed is a portable water purification system. It's a battery-operated water filtration unit called Spring. Spring is able to filter 180 liters (48 gallons) of water, and fits into a backpack -- enabling water filtration on the go.

"You can go to any lake, any place, any river, anything in the field, usually contaminated with industrial waste, or anything like that and actually filter it into the best drinking water that exists," says Kohavi.

This unit gives logistic independence for the forces and make us ensure that we provide the soldiers high quality water.
Major Alisa Zevin, head of the Facilities and Specialized Equipment, IDF

Major Alisa Zevin, head of the Facilities and Specialized Equipment Section for the IDF, says the unit is revolutionary for them.

"This unit gives logistic independence for the forces and make us ensure that we provide the soldiers high quality water," she says.

In 2013, the IDF took Spring to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island country and left 4.2 million people affected by water scarcity. The system filtered what was undrinkable water into potable water, and that is what Water-Gen hopes to accomplish elsewhere where the technology is needed.

"It's something as a Westerner you cannot understand because you have a perfect water in the pipe, but people are dying from lack of water," says Kohavi.

Although Water-Gen's developments aren't a solution for the water crisis, Kohavi believes that the technology can do for countries that lack clean water, such as Haiti, what it has done for the Philippines. It can be the technology used to not only to filter water, but to save lives.

"They could actually bring solution, perfect solution, to the people over there," says Kohavi. "For the kids ... They can use the technology to filter water in the field. People are going days just to carry water. And all our solutions can be an alternative for that."

Cuba: OPEC to grant $50m in loans for water projects

Cuba Standard

CUBA STANDARD — The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) will grant close to $50 million in loans for water rehabilitation projects in Cuba over the next two years, official daily Granma reported.

The announcement came after a meeting in Havana by OFID General Director Suleiman J. Al-Herbish with First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Al-Herbish also met with Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba’s point man for strategic economic relations, as well as with the ministers of agriculture and foreign trade and investment, and the head of the National Water Resources Institute (INRH).

The new OFID loans will amount to close to $50 million and are linked to Cuba’s ongoing water infrastructure rehabilitation program, according to Granma.

“I am here not only to show that I fulfilled the commitment OFID made a decade ago with Fidel Castro, but also to ratify that we will continue to work,” Al-Herbish said, according to the newspaper.

OFID has provided $128 million in low-interest loans since 2002, for 53 water, 43 agriculture, and 32 power grid projects. Eight of those projects, including Phase 3 of the rehabilitation of Havana’s power grid, are ongoing.

Last year, OFID granted a $20 million loan for the rehabilitation of the water supply and sewage system in the city of Guantánamo, a $62 million project.

In an interview with Granma, Al Herbish-said the OFID program has helped Cuba obtain loans from Arab nations. Saudi Arabia last year provided a $30 million loan for the rehabilitation of the water network in Havana; two years ago, Kuwait granted $25 million in loans for similar projects in Santiago and Holguín.

OFID provides low-interest loans throughout the developing world, mainly aimed at energy projects.

Man urinates in reservoir: City drains 38 million gallons of water

ITN

Cuba: Amplias zonas de Bayamo sin abasto de agua

PalenqueVision

Cuba: Cerca del millón de viviendas no tiene servicio de acueducto y hay 82 mil bohios y 18 mil cuarterías

Cuartería en un solar habanero

Café Fuerte

Por Daniel Benítez

Casi un millón de viviendas cubanas (955,885) reciben agua desde un pozo, río o manantial, mientras a 40,958 les llega desde una fuente imprecisable, catatalogada oficialmente como “otra”, según arrojan cifras divulgadas por el Censo de Población y Viviendas 2012.

Estos datos estadísticos significan que uno de cada tres hogares no tiene servicio de acueducto y utiliza agua sin ningún tipo de tratamiento de purificación, lo cual incrementa las posibilidades de contraer enfermedades infecciosas y la proliferación de brotes de epidemias como resultado de la insalubridad. En Cuba aparecen registradas 3.73 millones de viviendas.

Millones de cubanos también se ven afectados por el pobre abastecimiento del vital líquido, el cual llega a 591,469 viviendas por acarreo o pipas de distribución. Un total de 909,918 tienen las tuberías de agua fuera de las casas, una incomodidad adicional, pues para utilizarla en labores domésticas o en el consumo los residentes tienen que cargarla.

Problemas de desagüe

Pero si el abastecimiento es un problema, el desagüe no se queda atrás. En la actualidad, un millón 430 mil 86 viviendas ocupadas tienen que utilizar una fosa o tanque séptico, mientras que 756,644 recurren a “otros” mecanismos -que no son descritos- para evacuar los desechos líquidos y sólidos.

El alcantarillado solo cubre poco más del 45 por ciento de los hogares.

Con relación al servicio de electricidad, cientos de miles de cubanos se iluminan con kerosene, material inflamable que es utilizado en 42,392 hogares. Las plantas industriales se emplean en 23,484 inmuebles, en tanto las minihidroeléctricas le alivian  la vida a 7,098.

Es llamativo el hecho de que como fuente de energía se utilice el biogás en 257 edificaciones, al tiempo que “otras” provisiones -nuevamente la clasificación indeterminada- permiten que 8,148 puedan al menos encender un bombillo.

Bohíos, cuarterías, vagones

El acápite sobre el tipo de viviendas sorprende al revelar que todavía existen 82,607 bohíos en el país, 25 mil de ellos en Holguín y solo 150 en La Habana, la provincia con el mayor número de casas y apartamentos.

Los capitalinos comparten el raro “privilegio” de tener 10,700 habitaciones en cuarterías, el 59 por ciento del total de 18,365 que existen en la isla, y ser los segundos en cuanto a edificaciones “improvisadas”, con 1,553 de ellas (solo los supera Granma, con 1,993). En la categoría de improvisadas -como bien aclaran las autoridades- clasifican “aquellas viviendas que han sido construidas con materiales no adecuados o de desechos como son: cartones, planchas metálicas, fibrocemento, lona, etc”.

Pero la verdadera sorpresa de este registro estadístico es que los investigadores del Censo consideraron como viviendas 1,718 locaciones barcos, botes, vagón de ferrocarril, tráiler, contenedores, cuevas y otros.

El déficit habitacional  alcanza las 700 mil viviendas, en un país que apenas pudo construir 32,103 el pasado año.

Deadly brain amoeba infects first US drinking water system

NBC News.com

Maggie Fox

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC says it's found Naegleria fowleri, an almost always deadly amoeba, in a U.S. drinking water supply for the first time.

A deadly brain amoeba that’s killed two boys this year has been found in a U.S. drinking water supply system for the first time, officials said Monday -- in a New Orleans-area system.

The Naegleria fowleri parasite killed a 4-year-old Mississippi boy who likely got it playing on a back yard Slip 'N Slide, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say. Tests show it’s present throughout the water supply system in St. Bernard Parish, directly southeast of New Orleans.

“We have never seen Naegleria colonizing a treated water supply before,” said Dr. Michael Beach, head of water safety for the CDC. “From a U.S. perspective this is a unique situation.”

N. fowleri is a heat-loving amoeba that’s usually harmless, unless it gets up someone’s nose. It’s not entirely clear how or why, but in rare instances it can attach to one of the nerves that takes smell signals to the brain. There, the amoeba reproduces and the brain swelling and infection that follows is almost always deadly.

It killed a Miami-area boy last month -- 12-year-old Zachary Reyna -- and a 12-year-old Arkansas girl, Kali Hardig, is recovering slowly after an unusual experimental treatment.

N. fowleri is usually found in warm, fresh waters all over the world. It’s been seen in hot springs and swimming holes, freshwater lakes and even in neti pots used to clean out sinuses. Incomplete disinfection probably allowed it to thrive in St. Bernard, which has its own independent water system, Beach says.

“The key to this is understanding that this amoeba is kind of a heat-loving bug,” Beach said in a telephone interview. “If water temperatures start going up, you really need to be extremely careful about maintaining the disinfectant. The farther you go from a plant, the more likely you are for the disinfectant levels to get low.”

That’s what apparently happened in St. Bernard, which takes water from the Mississippi River and cleans it up for people to use. “We want all communities … checking the peripheries of their water distribution system,” Beach says.

N. fowleri has only been reported in about 130 people in the U.S. since 1962, making it extremely rare. Kali Hardig is only the third person known to have survived infection. It was formally identified in 1965, in Australia, where it did contaminate drinking water systems for a while, says Beach.

“In Australia, it was basically water being pumped from rivers and overland,” he says. The water got warm over long distances across the desert, and the amoeba thrived. Three children died after being immersed in baths and wading pools. Better disinfection has meant no cases since 1981, Australian health officials say.

Lousiana health department spokesman Ken Pastorick says officials are flushing out and decontaminating the St. Bernard Parish system, a process that may take several weeks.

“They have shocked the water, so to speak,” Pastorick said. “What has caused the problem here is low chlorination.” Pastorick says other Louisiana water systems are safe.

Beach says it’s not necessary to test water systems for the amoeba. Proper chlorination should always take care of it, he says.

And he stresses that water is safe to drink and bathe in even if it’s contaminated. Stomach acid appears to kill the amoeba, and people can protect themselves by not snorting water up their noses, or not allowing it to be forced up the nose.

St. Bernard water customers are being cautioned not to fill kiddie pools with tap water, or to use other water toys such as the sliding game that the 4-year-old boy who died was playing on. Topping up swimming pools with hoses is a bad, idea, too, unless the water first goes through the disinfection system.

“The critical piece is kids in the water,” Pastorick says.

Natural gas found in drinking water near fracked wells

science

Robert Jackson

A Marcellus shale gas extraction well pad and farm in Pennsylvania. New research finds contaminated drinking water, in some cases, in homes within one kilometer of these wells.

By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

Elevated levels of methane and other stray gases have been found in drinking water near natural gas wells in Pennsylvania's gas-rich Marcellus shale region, according to new research. In the case of methane, concentrations were six times higher in some drinking water found within one kilometer of drilling operations.
"The bottom line is strong evidence for gas leaking into drinking water in some cases," Robert Jackson, an environmental scientist at Duke University in Durham, N.C., told NBC News. "We think the likeliest explanation is leaky wells," he added.
Producing natural gas from shale rock formations involves a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that shoots several million gallons of water laced with chemicals and sand deep underground to break apart chunks of shale, freeing trapped gas to escape through cracks and fissures into wells.
The technique has unlocked the potential to usher in a new era of energy independence and may serve as a bridge to a clean energy future. But the fast-developing industry has raised a host of environmental concerns, including the potential for drinking water near natural gas wells to become contaminated.
The new research builds on earlier work from Jackson and his colleagues that also found high concentrations of methane near natural gas wells. In this new study, Jackson's team analyzed 141 drinking water samples from private wells across northeastern Pennsylvania.
In addition to the higher methane concentrations, the new study documented higher ethane and propane concentrations. Ethane concentrations were 23 times higher at homes within a kilometer of a shale gas well. Propane was detected in 10 samples, all from wells within one kilometer of drilling.
All the gases appear to be fossil in origin. "That is the point of the ethane and propane analyses in the paper," Jackson said. "Those are gases that are not generated by microbes" that can live in the ground and affect well water.
The researchers also conducted chemical analyses of hydrocarbon and helium that suggest the gas found in some instances comes not just from the ground, but from leaky steel pipes used in the extraction system, Jackson added.
"If you have a casing leak (in the tubing), you might expect to see other things through time," he noted, "not just the gases, but whatever is coming up out of the well."
The methane contamination may be a result of cracks in the cement that surrounds the outside of the steel tubing and serves as a barrier between the rock that is drilled through and the well. An improper cement job, Jackson explained, could permit gas from a pocket at mid-depth to move into the space outside the well, and move up to the drinking water.
"In that case, you would never expect to see Marcellus gas or, more importantly, fracking chemicals and metals and salts" in the drinking water, he said.
The biggest known risk of high methane concentrations in drinking water is an explosion or fire due to the buildup of the gas in a confined space such as a basement or a shed, Jackson noted. "The flip side of that is the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't regulate methane in drinking water, so we really don't know much about the health risks."
Naturally occurring methane is "ubiquitous" in water wells throughout the study region, Steve Everley, with the natural gas industry group Energy-in-Depth, writes in a blog post that characterizes the new study as full of flaws. Chief among them, Everley argues that methane is ubiquitous in the region, and that the Duke University research team found methane in water wells "nowhere near natural gas wells."
The group also notes that the new research does not find evidence of fluids used during fracking in the groundwater. "On that point, at least, we're happy to agree with them," Everley writes.
Radisav Vidic is a civil and environmental engineer at the University of Pittsburgh who recently conducted a review study of the scientific literature about environmental issues related to hydraulic fracturing. The new research, he told NBC News, will "help us to better understand the whole picture of potential risks," related to the fast-evolving industry.
But, he added, there is a lack of background data on these drinking water wells from before the onset of drilling for comparison. So, the findings of higher methane contamination near natural gas drilling is "not a direct proof" of a link, he said. "We don't have the data from before the industry came to town."
Jackson and his team are trying to build this baseline data, which requires greater disclosure from the natural gas industry through the release of well records, for example, so researchers can compare the chemical signature of the methane, ethane and propane they find in drinking water with the natural gas wells.
"The long term goal is to understand why problems occur and keep them from happening somewhere else," he said. "We want to work productively to make things better."
The new research appears in a paper published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, visit his website.

Louis Meeks’ well water contains methane gas, hydrocarbons, lead and copper, according to the EPA’s test results. When he drilled a new water well, it also showed contaminants. The drilling company Encana is supplying Meeks with drinking water. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)

Cuba: Pobladores abandonan sus hogares por azote de la sequía

CIHPRESS

Por Arian Guerra Pérez/ Hablemos Press. 

La Habana, 6 de Mayo.- Los pobladores de Cinco Palma, un caserío intrincado en la Sierra Maestra,  perteneciente a la provincia Granma, se han visto obligados a tomar medidas ante la escasez de alimentos,  provocada por la fuerte sequía que azota a esa región.

Cinco Palma, situada a 32 kilómetros del municipio Media Luna, no es la única comarca afectada por la lluvia. La sequía se extiende por diversas regiones del Oriente de Cuba, entorpeciendo el desarrollo de los cultivos, relatan diversas fuentes consultadas.

Elio Pérez, campesino, ex empleado de la UBPC (Unidad Básica de Producción Cooperativa), Ernesto (Che) Guevara, explicó personalmente a Hablemos Press, que los trabajadores de este Centro tienen que recorrer 5 kilómetros para garantizar una parte del suministro de agua al ganado y a algunas instalaciones ganaderas.

Aseguró, además, que "el ganado se encuentra enflaquecido en su totalidad, debido a las condiciones en que permanece".

"Hay falta de transporte para el traslado de forrajes y melaza, hacia lugares donde se almacenan los alimentos como reserva para el tiempo de sequía, pero también lo más alarmante es la despreocupación del gobierno". 

Los ciudadanos se quejan de la difícil situación que están viviendo, aunque, en un comunicado trasmitido por la emisora local Radio Bayamo, el Grupo de Gestión del Conocimiento y Medio Ambiente del CITMA, dijo que existen 11 presas en la provincia Granma que abastecen a la población a través de la red Hidráulica.

Salvio Milán Torres, un campesino que estudió agronomía, residente en la comarca La Güira, dijo que los pozos de su localidad se encuentran en un estado  tan degradante, que  no les permite a los pobladores  extraer el preciado líquido, y que a ellos no le llega la red hidráulica.  

“Los vecinos de estos barrios lavamos la ropa con cualquier agua, esté o no contaminada. Se nos hace difícil porque nosotros tenemos que cargar el agua al hombro en recipientes de metal o plástico a más de un kilómetro de distancia de nuestras casas”, alegó Sonia Arias, otra residente en La Güira.

Consuelo Pérez, residente en Melena del Sur, provincia Mayabeque, quien recientemente visitó el municipio Media Luna, comentó: "La gente ha tenido que hacer posos en medio de los ríos que permanecen secos para poder coger un poquito de agua".

"Muchos bateyes como Las Cajas, Los Corrales, Limoncito...han quedado sin habitantes que han abandonado sus casas y emigrado principalmente para las provincias Ciego de Avila, Las Tunas, Sancti Spiritus, Matanza, Mayabeque y La Habana debido a la escasez de agua y alimentos", señaló Consuelo, quien también emigró hace dos años de Cinco Palma.

La sequía afecta a toda la provincia Granma, a 700 kilómetros al este de La Habana, y a otras provincias de la región Oriental.

Un trabajador del CITMA, dijo que en muchos ríos de la provincia Holguín, como lo son Uñas, Jibara, Velazco etc., no presentan las condiciones favorables para abastecer a la población.

Manuel Martínez León, residente en el poblado La Hégira, de Velazco, Holguín, comentó al ser consultado, que tiene que caminar más de 4 kilómetros arriando una yegua con dos cantinas para buscar agua. 

Aseguró Martínez que "la producción de leche del ganado de los campesinos a bajado mucho debido a la sequía".

Sin embargo, un artículo publicado en el Órgano Oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba, periódico Granma, con fecha 7 de diciembre del 2012, y titulado "Incumplimientos que cuestan millones", asegura que los bajos rendimientos de leche en el país no es responsabilidad de la sequía, y acusan por ello el desvío de recursos existentes en las granjas lecheras. 

Sharing Water Resources Between Countries

Johns Hopkins

Winston Yu, senior water resources specialist at the World Bank and adjunct professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, explains how sharing water resources has always been a source of contention between neighboring countries, but this mutual interest can be a catalyst for cooperation.

Cuba: Intrusión marina en la Cuenca Artemisa [Estudio]

www2.ine.gob.mx

Revistas PUCP

Manuel Núñez Lafitte

Resumen

La intrusión marina es el proceso por el cual el agua de mar desplaza en un acuífero el agua dulce como consecuencia de una reducción sensible de la carga hidráulica, ya sea por acciones naturales o por actividad antrópica.
La intrusión marina tiene lugar principalmente en los acuíferos costeros independientemente a la litología predominante.
En este trabajo se aborda el análisis del escenario que en el abasto de agua subterránea a la Ciudad de La Habana y Provincia Habana produciría la intrusión marina durante la ocurrencias de años secos, simultaneados, con altas explotaciones del acuífero y el no mantenimiento de obras de recarga como es el caso del Dique Sur.
Se cartografía el escenario de peligro que muestra el pronóstico de la penetración expresada en longitud de la cuña de intrusión marina tomando como condiciones de contorno las variables que pueden ser desfavorables por su variación temporal, tales como la precipitación, explotación y abatimiento. Se considera constante el espesor de la lámina de agua dulce.
Texto completo: PDF >>

Our Environmental Catastrophe: Geoengineering and Weather Warfare

seeker401

The environmental movement has developed a single-minded obsession with the supposed effects of carbon dioxide on the global climate. Rather than CO2 gas, however, the technologies that are now being proposed to mitigate this supposed problem might be the real cause of our coming environmental calamity.

http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2013/02/our-environmental-catastrophe-geoengineering-and-weather-warfare

Consejo de Ministros de Cuba: Rostros pateticos y guayaberas finas

subcastro el administrador, le ha dado por presentar imagenes bien editadas de las sesiones del consejo de ministros, en lo que no es mas que una operacion de propaganda y manipulacion, dirigida a hacer creerle a la poblacion que trabajan arduamente por resolver los agonicos problemas de la vida del cubano de a pie. 

a pesar de la cuidadosa seleccion, no es posible ocultar los rostros pateticos y muchos de ellos sonolientos de los "elegidos" entre la casta supina, asi como sus  guayaberas finas y relojes de  "marca".

Metodologia del agua en Cuba: Cubo y jarrito

pomairino

Villa Miseria en Santiago de Cuba: DONDE NO LLEGAN "LAS MULAS NI LOS TÍOS DEL EXILIO"

micubalibre1

Cuba , Kuwait Join Hands To Overcome Water Shortage In Havana

Bernama/

Cuba and Kuwait signed an agreement here yesterday to jointly undertake renovation of the water supply network in Havana, where half of the city's population of more than two million is suffering from the effects of a long ... More >>

Worldwide Water Conspiracy/ Jesse Ventura

#Conspiracy - The Risks of Water Fluoridation

Uploaded by TheAlexJonesChannel on Oct 1, 2011

Then, in-studio guests from Fluoride Free Austin will break down the victories beginning to emerge in their local fight to remove fluoride from the capital city of Texas. Dr. Griffin Cole, DDS and Laura Pressley, PhD. in physical chemistry, demonstrate the risks of fluoridation, while highlighting the increasing trends to remove it from public water supplies. Also featured is a clip from the PrisonPlanet.tv roundtable interview Alex conducted with Dr. Paul Connett, a leading face in the fluoride fight, on his campaign across the Western world to convince cities that fluoride is not in the public's interest.

La Habana sin #agua en saludo al VI Congreso

Mas de un millon de personas afectadas y no lo cuenta ni Radio Marti ni el Herald, sino el  GRANMA