00:00Alternative drinking water is becoming a lucrative business as Cuba grapples with an energy crisis.
00:08As the pipe service run by the state sometimes dwindles from a lack of fuel, innovators are
00:13selling purified or well water.
00:17In the capital Havana, vendors were selling to restaurants, the diplomatic sector and
00:22foreign companies, but their client base has expanded to residents who are suffering from
00:26a lack of power to boil water or who have an inconsistent water supply.
00:32According to local media, nearly 80% of the population receives drinking water through
00:36networks managed by water and sewerage companies, but locals say its numerous leaks, the breakage
00:43of pumping equipment and constant power outages impact the service.
00:48Here's resident Sergio Ruiz.
00:50The water, as you see, we have containers, so it's stored in containers.
00:55From there we supply the bottles.
00:57We put them in the fridge and we drink it.
00:59The family drinks it.
01:00The brackish water, as you see, we do not have it now because there are problems with
01:04the turbine, but we always have problems with fresh water.
01:08There are always problems.
01:10Sometimes we go up to 15 days without it and it's fundamental that people need fresh water.
01:16Late on Sunday, two days after an island-wide outage knocked out power to millions of people,
01:22Cuba reconnected its national electrical grid and restored power to the majority of
01:27the capital.
01:29The grid collapsed on Friday evening after a transmission line at a substation in Havana
01:34shorted.
01:36It marked the Caribbean island's fourth nationwide blackout since October, once again paralyzing
01:42commerce.
01:43Cuba's oil-fired power plants, already obsolete and struggling, reached a fuel crisis last
01:48year as oil imports dwindled.
01:50Many across the island had already been experiencing daily blackouts that reached 20 hours or more.
01:57Despite restoration, officials said on Sunday they were generating just one-third of typical
02:02daily energy demand, leaving many residents still in the dark.
02:06Cuba blames a Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo and fresh restrictions from U.S. President
02:11Donald Trump, who recently tightened sanctions on the communist-run government and vowed
02:16to restore a tough policy toward the longtime U.S. foe.
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