Cuba To Have New Law On Water Management

Cuba To Have New Law On Water Management

HAVANA, Oct 17 (BERNAMA-NNN-Prensa Latina) -- Cuba is preparing a new
law to modernize water management, Orlando Rey of the Ministry of
Science, Technology and the Environment (Citma) said.

Speaking at the First Conference of Strategic Studies, Rey said the lack
of the vital liquid and the processes of sanitation and decontamination
are key problems in the Cuban environmental strategy.

This Caribbean nation has scant water resources which basically receives
through rains and are subject to threats of climatic change, he said.

Referring to the existence of a water crisis in the world, Rey asserted
this has repercussions in the food and health sectors and provokes
political instability and social conflicts.

There is great inequity in the distribution of this scant resource, with
Africa as one of the most critical zones, as persons living with less
than one or two dollars per day, occupy an important percentage among
populations lacking water, he explained.

He also referred to the irrational use of water, with an intensive
exploitation of the underground water deposits which have tripled over
the last 50 years and from which depend two billion individuals. Also,
over 30 percent of the illnesses are water-related, he said.

The conference "Rethinking a World in Crisis and Change", convoked by
the Center of Studies on International Policy and the Cuban Ministry of
Foreign Relations, will end Friday.

Academics and professors from more than 30 countries of United States,
Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia are attending.

Source: "BERNAMA - Cuba To Have New Law On Water Management" -
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=986054