HAVANA, Cuba.- In order to ensure the preservation of water in harmony with economic and social development, as well as the adoption of measures against events arising from climate change, rules related to the inland waters come into effect since last February 14.

This legal instrument is the result of the emergence of the hydraulic will, designed by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, which meant the execution of works such as dams, channels, and irrigation systems.

The Inland Water Act establishes the rational use of water and its reuse, and the management of disaster risk reduction and extreme hydro-meteorological events.

In Cuba, rains are the main source of terrestrial waters, a renewable and limited natural resource, therefore it is necessary to manage their employment in an integrated way.

January, a Severely Humid Month

The first month of this year ended with a national average of precipitations of 112.1 mm, and it is classified as severely humid, after data of the Hydrological Bulletin, a journal by the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources.

Central and Eastern parts of the island outstand among the regional behaviors, as the West had a not very favorable cumulative.

Cuban reservoirs stored at the end of January 84 per cent of the total capacity, a volume representing almost four million cubic meters more than in the same date last year.

According the bulletin of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, 46 reservoirs presented less than fifty percent of useful fill.