Cape Verde Water Crisis: Praia Parched by Technical Failures
Families and small business owners in Praia, Cape Verde’s capital, are facing a deepening water crisis that has left taps dry for weeks, forcing residents to rely on expensive tanker deliveries and makeshift storage containers just to survive.
Daily Life Put on Hold
In the neighborhood of Várzea, 39-year-old Fátima Baldé struggles to maintain her catering business. “Sometimes we go weeks without water at home,” she told Lusa. For Baldé, an immigrant from Guinea-Conakry, the shortage has turned a basic necessity into a constant logistical challenge. “When the water finally comes back, I have to stop everything to fill up every container I have and save it.”
The situation is equally dire for small businesses. Julieta Moreno, 52, who runs a bar and restaurant in Achada Santo António, manages a delicate balancing act of barrels and buckets to keep her kitchen running. “Customers always need water,” she said, noting that the shortage affects everything from hygiene to food preparation. When her reserves run dry, she has no choice but to pay 1,200 escudos (€10.90) per ton for water delivered by private tanker trucks—a significant cost for a small enterprise.
A Recurring Summer Crisis
The shortage is not a new phenomenon, but residents say it has reached a breaking point as temperatures rise. “During the hot weather, we feel the water crisis more, precisely when we need it most,” Moreno explained. In the Fundo Cobom neighborhood, university student Jussara Rodrigues, 22, reported that her household has been completely without running water for over a week.
Across the capital, the sight of blue barrels and plastic buckets lining hallways has become a symbol of the city’s struggle. Residents have become experts at “water harvesting” from their own taps, waiting for the unpredictable moments when the supply briefly returns.
Technical Failures at the Source
The crisis stems from a technical breakdown at the island’s primary production facility. Electra, the public utility company responsible for desalinated water production on Santiago Island, confirmed that a catastrophic failure in one of the large pumps at the Palmarejo desalination plant is to blame.
According to a statement released by the company, the pump failure caused a “unit rack” to go offline, significantly reducing the total production capacity available to the distribution network, Águas de Santiago (AdS). While technicians are working to resolve the issue, Electra warns that the water supply is not expected to return to normal until sometime next week.
Image: Pexels – Thomas Schwaak
