Drilling private wells can cost from 500,000 pesos in Havana
Families seek expensive alternatives amid supply interruptions, while power cuts also affect water service.
In Havana, opening a private well has become an alternative costing from 500,000 Cuban pesos. The figure makes the search for water expensive for families facing supply interruptions. It is a starting price rather than a uniform cost or citywide average.
An image shared on Facebook shows three men manually digging a well with basic tools and physical effort rather than heavy machinery. It illustrates the alternative but does not establish the cost of that specific job.
In September, Aguas de La Habana said service disruptions affected more than 577,000 people in the capital and linked them to prolonged electricity cuts. That figure measures residents affected, not households with wells.
Nationally, another figure says 2.7 million Cubans experienced water-supply disruptions during the energy crisis. It describes the islandwide reach, not Havana alone or the number of families choosing to drill.
The government has also announced that Havana's water pumping will become independent of the electrical system. That response concerns public supply operations and does not mean private wells cease to be an alternative for families.