Radio Havana Cuba's Science, Technology and Environment Program:
BREAKTHROUGHFor broadcast Sunday, September 03, 2000
Written and narrated by Arnaldo "Arnie" Coro, RHC's Science Editor
Hello amigos, and welcome to Breakthrough, our weekly Science, Technology and the Environment update. I am Arnaldo, Arnie Coro, RHCs science editor reporting from downtown Havana. The city of Havana has a population now well past the two million mark, and the City Council -- El Consejo de la Administracion Provincial -- is working hard to improve the living conditions of everyone who lives or stays here, as the city has a floating, in-transit population of close to two hundred thousand persons. Among the most recent important decisions taken by the City Council, is a program to renovate, improve and maintain the water supply system, which is a very complex operation, comprising 45 different aqueducts, some of them located tens of miles away from Havana.
The program was started with several pilot projects, one devoted to locate and repair leaks all the way from the mains, some of which are up to 2 meters or 72 inches in diameter, to the smaller pipes at street level. The Plan Salidero, or Leak Repairs Plan, is still in progress, and it has reduced the water lost signficantly. Another pilot project introduced more advanced management and organizational techniques. It was started by the creation of Aguas del Oeste, that could be translated into Western Water Supply System, in cooperation with a Spanish partner in what has proven to be a very successful operation. Cuba has a very irregular rainfall pattern, with periods of very long droughts; that places tremendous stress on the aquifers, or underground sources of our water supply.
Only a small percentage of Havana City's water supply comes from dams and reservoirs, which also suffer a lot during the long dry spells. According to the President of the City Council, Havana's Mayor, Conrado Martinez Corona, optimization of the Caribbean's most-populated urban center's water supply system will continue with the installation of the most advanced technologies, computer-operated and optimized pumping and distribution systems and, already in progress, a permanent mass media ad campaign to educate citizens on the proper use of what is already becoming one of the world's most expensive resources... potable water!!
And this was Breakthrough for today; reporting from downtown Havana's water management district, I am Arnaldo, Arnie, Coro -- inviting you to join me next week at the same time and short wave frequency for another edition of RHC's Science, Technology and the Environment update.
prepared 03-Sept-2000; transmitted 04-Sept-2000 19:41 EST
For more information, via Air Mail:
"Breakthrough"
Radio Havana Cuba
Havana, CUBA 10600
Via e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
To Arnie Coro's Dxers Unlimited
NY Transfer's Radio Havana Cuba homepage