In Havana, Cuba’s deepening energy crisis is severely disrupting access to water for millions of residents, compounding daily hardships amid ongoing power shortages and fuel scarcity. The intertwined nature of Cuba’s electricity and water supply systems means that extended blackouts are leaving taps dry and forcing many citizens to rely on informal water distribution.
The crisis has intensified this year following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces, which led to the suspension of oil exports from Venezuela, Cuba’s primary fuel supplier. This development, combined with longstanding effects of the US embargo and economic sanctions, has drastically reduced fuel availability, critically limiting the operation of pumping stations and the maintenance of the water infrastructure.
According to Cuba’s National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, nearly three million Cubans face difficulties obtaining water, with the system currently functioning at just 37% of its fuel capacity. Compounding these challenges, Havana loses up to 70% of its water to leaks before it even reaches households. Wealthier residents and hotels often mitigate shortages through water storage tanks, generators, or solar panels, but most ordinary citizens depend on irregular deliveries, manual collection, or paying informal water vendors.
In Havana’s Chinatown, 61-year-old Mirella Martínez describes her daily routine hauling empty jerrycans half a mile to her daughter’s workplace, one of the few locations with a relatively consistent water supply. Living with her three daughters and grandson, Martínez says her home has lacked reliable running water for almost three years. She rationed water carefully, using it sparingly for drinking, cooking, washing, and laundry, emphasizing the toll the crisis has taken on her family’s quality of life.
In the working-class neighbourhood of Centro Habana, residents like Dhayamis Hernández Díaz rely on brief electricity returns—often only a few hours at night—to fill rooftop tanks and perform essential household tasks. Many find themselves wearing down physically and emotionally as they adjust to the unpredictable rhythm of scarce resources.
An informal economy for water has flourished amid these conditions. Men such as Juan Carlos Reyes and Juan de la Cruz Villalón collect and sell water from still-functioning pumping stations, traveling long distances by foot while transporting heavy containers for customers who cannot collect water themselves. Reyes, a former intensive care physician, now earns modest income selling water, despite the exhausting effort involved.
Similarly, Carlos Sánchez gathers water leaking from broken pipelines and sells it on a bicycle, a job that pays more than his previous work as a funeral technician. Sánchez speaks to the widespread infrastructural collapse and the frustration many feel as they witness water being wasted while access remains limited.
The prolonged outages have also curtailed everyday activities and personal safety. Martínez notes the darkness that falls early and the resulting restrictions on movement at night. Television and entertainment have become rare luxuries due to frequent power cuts.
As Cuba’s energy crisis deepens, millions of citizens continue to navigate the intersection of electricity and water scarcity, hoping for a return to normalcy amid a system strained by fuel shortages, aging infrastructure, and geopolitical pressures.