Residents of Camagüey Struggle with Sewage Flooding Streets for Over Four Years

Camagüey residents have been enduring overflowing sewage in the streets for more than four years, highlighting an ongoing public health crisis with no resolution in sight, as reported in a Facebook post.

This issue is neither new nor isolated. Back in October 2025, locals from the Prieto neighborhood reported a blockage lasting over three months on Longitudinal Street between 2nd and Final, with wastewater accumulating outside their homes and no response from the authorities.

In July of this year, La Marina neighborhood faced a similar predicament: sewage, piles of trash, and neglect have become daily realities for those living in that part of the city.

In May, a brief one-hour downpour was enough to turn several streets in Camagüey into lakes due to clogged sewage systems, with the corner of San Ramón and Honda described as a spot that has been "flooding the street after each rainfall for years."

By June, concerns arose over the water quality in Camagüey, with the water emitting a foul odor and appearing opaque—clear signs of contamination in the drinking supply. During the same month, the municipality went several days without water due to a network failure.

This pattern has persisted for years. In September 2024, the sewage system in the Saratoga neighborhood collapsed following a heavy downpour, with residents reporting knee-deep water. And in 2019, residents of the Boves neighborhood complained of waiting over 15 years for road repairs, with leaks taking months to be fixed.

Frequent power outages exacerbate the situation: when water pumps are halted, it speeds up the overflow of the sewage systems and increases the risk of wastewater contaminating the drinking supply. "Sewage flows from our pipes," lamented a local resident earlier this month.

Structural statistics highlight the extent of the collapse. According to the 2023 Provincial Statistical Yearbook, only 27.2% of Camagüey's population is connected to sewage systems; the remaining 72.8% rely on septic tanks and latrines. Nationally, just 37% of Cubans have access to sanitation networks, and over 173,000 people lack adequate systems for wastewater disposal.

In December 2023, the regime announced a 50 million peso Saudi credit to repair more than 24.4 km of the aging Camagüey sewage network. Yet, two and a half years later, streets remain flooded with sewage, and residents are still waiting for change.