Hundreds of Water Filters Made in Cuba Arrive in Guantanamo
HAVANA TIMES – After Hurricane Matthew passed through Cuba in October 2016, the Coordinator of Solidarity with Cuba in Madrid, Spain conducted a campaign to collect funds, reported cubainformación.tv.
With the money obtained and in collaboration with the organization SODEPAZ, it was agreed to invest in purchasing water filters to deliver to the affected families in the province of Guantánamo, especially in the city of Baracoa.
Throughout the year 2017, a total of 470 ceramic filters were distributed for water purification for human consumption, benefitting approximately 1,880 persons (an average of four per home).
The filters were acquired in the factory of the Integrated Center of Water Technologies (CITA) of Camagüey.
Note: to learn about the history and effectiveness of these filters read the following Havana Times report: Cuba Makes Needed Water Filters but Production is Low
Has anyone found a source to buy these outside Cuba, or even inside?
That could be possible, but I think the problem is an endemic one of Cuban innovators coming up with good ideas/projects to deal with different problems and the weight of the country’s Communist Party run bureaucratic system punishing instead of promoting initiative. That’s why many Cuban professionals excel abroad in their fields but just spin their wheels at home.
Thanks for the link, Circles! Do you suppose the lack of materials, the lack of bureaucratic approval and the lack of distribution have anything to do with someone(s) having a sweet deal on kickbacks for the Chinese (and other) filters sold at much higher prices at the stores selling in divisa? Am I getting too cynical in my old age?
Michael, you could write to the people in the Havana Times article at CITA Camaguey about the filters and see about getting one, although they have both sales and distribution problems, as the article notes, despite them being an excellent needed product. Can you imagine a half million homes in Havana with these filters instead of boiling water? What a savings that would be and much better tasting water.
Where can I get one of these?! During my last two trips to Cuba, in 2012 and 2015, I suffered from severe bouts of, err, “Hatuey’s Revenge!” It was no fun. For days on end I was confined to running from my bed to the bathroom. At lease I lost between twelve and fifteen pounds; I don’t, however, recommend this extreme form of weight loss via “purging.” During my last trip I showed a newby friend around and he, miraculously, did not suffer any diarrhea. Why? How? Because he is a strictly “meats and potatoes” man, whilst I, in order to eat healthy, always have a salad to accompany my meal. The salad, of course, is always washed with tap water, and there is the (near-) fatal fault.