Havana’s Modern-Day Thirst

September 7, 2025

HAVANA TIMES – The Albear Aqueduct, born in 1858 as the grand project of Cuban engineer Francisco de Albear, was designed as a response to the potable water crisis that was battering the colonial Havana, already a city of over 100,000 inhabitants. To combat the outbreaks of cholera and deaths from water-borne diseases, Albear designed a system in which the natural springs of Vento – located at an altitude 41 meters higher than the city – would be gravity-fed into a canal. His design won him a gold medal in the 1878 Exposition Universelle of Paris. The aqueduct was inaugurated in 1893, six years after the death of its creator.

The aqueduct includes numerous key innovations of the era, such as the oval-shaped masonry conduits to optimize flow, the incredible tunnels under the Almendares river, and sedimentation tanks for purification. This crown jewel of engineering was declared a National Monument in 2009 and is considered one of the Seven Marvels of Cuban Engineering.

The miracle of gravity

The aqueduct operates without electric pumps, an enormous advantage in a country facing a crisis in its energy supply. It currently supplies 12 – 15% of the water for Havana boroughs such as Centro Havana, Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, and Havana Vieja. Its infrastructure is clearly visible: the stone arches in Cerro and Plaza de la Revolución form an integral part of the urban landscape, as well as the Palatino deposits, surrounded by ornamental gardens since 1926.

As for its maintenance, even though the design is self-sufficient, it requires chlorination to disinfect and periodic cleaning of the sediments.

Symbol of national pride is a reminder of the water crisis

Today, the Albear Aqueduct is a symbol of historic pride and a reminder of the systemic failures in water management.

The water crisis in Havana has diverse causes, some occasioned by critical circumstances. The first problem is the instability of the national energy system, which affects the auxiliary pumping stations needed to pressurize the water network. In August 2025, a breakdown at the Naranjito substation left 200,000 Havana residents without water, exacerbating the crisis in the Southern Basin of Havana and in Ariguanabo. Secondly, the infrastructure is obsolete, leading to leakages. Sixty percent of the secondary pipes are over 50 years old, causing losses of up to 40% of the water.

In addition, the inequality of the water supply is a norm. While the cisterns in the tourist zones are prioritized, neighborhoods such as Los Sitios in Centro Habana suffer cuts in supply that can last as long as 10-15 days. Finally, there’s the State-run water company, Aguas de la Habana, that charges full price even when the water service is irregular, causing discontent. How can they charge for a service that’s so insufficiently supplied and sometimes not at all?

The Havana water company: promises vs. realities

The Havana Water Company was founded as a mixed-capital enterprise. They are continually promising to improve, but face criticism for being opaque and ineffective. The company offers several services: connection installations, well cleaning, billing, and water laboratory analysis. However, what stands out are the unresolved challenges.

Sadly, the lack of transparency is one of their distinguishing features. The population’s complaints are ignored, as in Los Sitios where the residents finally blocked one of the streets in protest. Further, the company gives priority to tourism, over and above the Havana residents’ need for water. When the pipes go dry, tank trucks supply the stores and hotels first, while hospitals and schools must wait days. Despite the government’s Infrastructure Plan, the decay in the networks that began the previous century has not been reversed.

The modern thirst of Havana

The aqueduct was included in UNESCO’s Global Network of Water Museums in 2023, but its educational value lies in contrast to the daily emergency.

Experts have proposed several solutions to this hydric crisis: for example, the use of renewable energy, installing solar panels at the pumping stations to avoid the dependence on electricity. Two fundamental projects would be carrying out the urgently needed repairs of the pipe network and also expanding the storage capacity in Palatino. With better community management, the locals could be empowered to monitor and report leakages, and to help oversee a more equitable water supply.

But all these are mere proposals that haven’t been carried out efficiently; meanwhile, thirst persists among Havana and its people. The undeniable paradox is in full view: while the tourists admire the neoclassical arches of the aqueduct, Havana residents are hauling their water in buckets.

Albear’s work survives as a technical miracle, but access to water continues to be a privilege. Havana teeters between the engineering of the past and the hydric crisis of the present. Albear resolved the water problem for colonial Havana, but this feat is no longer enough.