Due to the deficient water service that the city of Havana had until the 19th century, after some construction attempts, Engineers Colonel Francisco de Albear y Lara was entrusted with the task of bringing water to this city, through the construction of the aqueduct that would bear his name.
By 1858, the project presented by the engineer Albear, designed to conduct the waters of the Vento springs to the city, would be approved. Then, in 1861, it would start under the direction of Albear.
Background
Canal of the aqueduct – View in 1900
At the beginning of the 19th century, there was a severe shortage of water. After having negotiated with several French engineers in 1852, the Governor of Cuba José Gutiérrez de la Concha decided to create a commission to propose solutions for the water supply. The commission was to be chaired by Francisco de Albear, at that time colonel of the Corps of Engineers of the Spanish army and chairman of the Public Works Committee of Cuba. His main assistant was José Luis Casaseca, Director of the Institute of Chemical Investigations of Havana. The construction of a new water supply system was a necessity for the improvement of the sanitary conditions of the city. There had been severe outbreaks of cholera in 1850, 1856, 1865 and 1867-1870. The mortality due to dysentery and other waterborne diseases.
Investigation
The investigations carried out by De Albear’s team were extensive; he investigated various alternatives among which the use of the Luyanó, Martín Pérez, Guasabacoa, Marianao or Almendares rivers as well of the Cacahual or del Calvario springs all of which he rejected for various reasons. He finally settled for the use of the del Vento springs, both due to the superior water quality and for the possibility of conveying the water by gravity, the source being located 41 meters higher than the city. Chemical studies carried out by José Luis Casaseca lead to the conclusion that the water of the del Vento springs had to be isolated from the Almendares River to prevent a deterioration of the water quality which was of great concern due to the tropical location of the island.[1]
However, it was only in 1855, that a second commission, chaired also by Francisco de Albear, started extensive geological and hydrological field surveys, to ascertain that the springs had the capacity to cover the water requirements of the city. Finally, on November 25, 1855 De Albear was able to present his report to Governor José Gutiérrez de la Concha.[2]
Copies of the report were sent to the Ministers of Interior (Ministro de Gobernación) and of Public Works (Ministro de Fomento) in Madrid. The "Royal Decree for the conveyance of the water of the Vento springs to Havana" was signed on October 5, 1858. To ensure the financing, the decree suspended for three years all payments from the revenue generated by the Fernando II aqueduct, imposed an annual fee of 45 pesos for each water faucet and authorized the governorship to raise another 500,000 pesos through taxes, if necessary.
On February 18, 1859, Governor Gutiérrez de la Concha created the Administration of the de Vento canal, Board of Directors.[3]
Components of the project
Though called an aqueduct, the project presented by De Albear is complex water supply system, including the following components: [4][5]
dams for the creation of storage ponds for the water of the springs
The canal has an ovalcross section, being 2.40 m deep and having a maximum width of 1.98 m. With a slope of 1:5000 it can convey a discharge of 1.67 m³/s (144,000 m³/day) at normal water levels. However, at higher water levels the capacity of the canal can be increased to 302,800 m³/day. It should be taken into account that, according to the standards in force at the time the canal was designed, the water requirement was of 500 litres per day per inhabitant
Construction of the water supply system
From the 56th Congress, 1st Session. House of Representatives. Document No. 2. Annual Reports of the War Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1899. Washington: Government Printing Office. Havana Map, Showing Plan of Water Main Distribution, Cuba. 1899
In 1861, the construction started under the direction of Francisco de Albear. The progress was however extremely slow due to the scarcity of available funds and to the disturbances created by the Ten Years' War.
Work on the water distribution network started only in 1874 when Francisco de Albear made the first complete topographic survey of Havana and produced a 1:5000 plan of the city. Based on these surveys, he completed the design of the network and fixed the location of the water storage tanks.[6]
In the meanwhile, the water supply of the city had worsened, as a result of the project's construction delays. After the Peace of Zanjón was signed with the independentist rebels on February 10, 1878, the first part of the canal could finally be completed and, on June 23, 1878, the link of the De Vento Canal and the filters of the Fernando VII aqueduct could finally be inaugurated by Governor Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón.[7]
Completion of the project
Francisco de Albear, infected with malaria, was not able to oversee the last part of the project. He died on October 22, 1887, without seeing its completion. The work was continued under the supervision of Joaquín Ruiz, colonel of the Corps of Engineers who had assisted de Albear.[8][9] The construction of the last part was contracted with an American company and coordinated by E. Sherman Gould, work started on January 31, 1890.[10] The project was inaugurated on January 22, 1893, 45 years after its commencement.[11]
Expansions
An expansion from 1925 to 1931 under the direction of the engineer Montoulieu, and the participation in addition to the engineer Abel Fernández Simón, took place. The population exceeded half a million inhabitants and urban growth had also continued to rise, so it was necessary to build a new Cup in Vento, known as the Taza chica, and another Cup in Acura del Cura, with a driving channel up to Vento. A new booth was also built Turbo-electric pumps in Palatino. In this era created the Garden of the Seasons in the access zone Deposits and remodeled the exterior areas of Vento, with the creation of gardens and the incorporation of trails and ornamental elements. Similarly, the Torre Norte was renovated and elements were added ornamentals in the neocolonial style.
The third expansion of the aqueduct occurred between 1947 and 1948, directed by the engineer Fernández Simón, and involved the installation of a new 66″ duct diameter between Mazorra and Palatino, passing through Vento, that allowed to drive to the Palatino deposits a flow of forty million gallons per day from Aguada del Cura, which improved the supply of Vedado, Luyanó, the Viper, the Hill and allowed to supply Los Pinos, Arroyo Naranjo and Calvario.[12]
The Albear Aqueduct is still active as it works without electric power and continues using as sole energy the force with which springs from its source. Supplies all five central municipalities of the city of Havana: Havana Vieja, Centro Habana, Cerro, October 10 and Plaza de the Revolution, which is approximately the 12% of the population of Havana today. The Albear Aqueduc was selected by the National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers of Cuba, UNAICC, as one of the Seven Wonders of Engineering in Cuba. In view of its heritage values, on January 9 of 2009, in commemoration of the 193 anniversary of birth of Albear, the Historic Aqueduct System from the city of Havana, which includes the Zanja Real, the Fernando VII Aqueduct and the Albear Aqueduct. It was declared a National Monument of the Republic of Cuba.[12]
Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. The city has a population of 2.3million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 728.26 km2 (281.18 sq mi) – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.
The Almendares River is a river that runs for 47 km in the western part of Cuba. It originates from the east of Tapaste and flows north-west into the Straits of Florida. The river acts as a water supply for Havana.
Old Havana is the city-center (downtown) and one of the 15 municipalities forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of Havana. The positions of the original Havana city walls are the modern boundaries of Old Havana.
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana is one of three Catholic archdioceses in Cuba.
Manuel Couceiro Prado was a Cuban painter and was a member of the Grupo Antillano.
Juan Carlos Alom is a Cuban photographer. Alom is a photographer and an experimental filmmaker. His artistic career started in the 1990s in Havana.
Adriano Buergo, is a Cuban artist specializing in painting, drawing and installations.
Juan Pablo Villar Alemán is a Cuban artist specializing in drawing, painting, engraving and graphic design. Since 1989, he resides in Mexico City, Mexico.
Rafael Zarza Gonzalez is a Cuban artist specializing in painting, engraving, graphic design and illustration.
José Antonio Cedeño is a self-taught Cuban artist specializing in sculpture, drawing and painting.
Roger Sebastián Aguilar Labrada is a Cuban artist specializing in graphic design, painting, drawing and engraving.
Eliseo Valdés Erustes is a Cuban artist specializing in sculpture, painting, and drawing.
Water privatization in Cuba began in January 2000 when the socialist government of Cuba created a mixed public-private company to manage the water, sewer and stormwater drainage system in 8 of the 15 municipalities that make up the country's capital Havana. The government avoids the term privatization, despite the involvement of two foreign private companies as key partners in the mixed company. The company operates under a 25-year renewable concession contract. It serves 1.25 million inhabitants in the municipalities of Old Havana, Central Havana, Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, 10 Octubre, La Lisa, Playa, and Marianao, which together are home to 60 percent of Havana's population. The company, called Aguas de la Habana, has a capital of 8 million USD and is owned by the Cuban state through the National Institute for Water Resources (INRH), the Spanish private company Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar) and the Spanish family firm Grupo Martinon. The contract foresees that ultimately the entire population of Havana will be served by the company.
Francisco de Albear y Fernández de Lara was a Spanish engineer from Cuba.
José Manuel Fors is a contemporary Cuban artist born in Havana in 1956. His work is principally based on installations and supported by photography. His first artistic forays, during the early eighties, were part of what has been coined "The Renaissance of Cuban Art". His artwork has been shown in renowned museums and galleries in the United States, Europe and Cuba.
The aqueduct of Querétaro is an 18th-century aqueduct in the Mexican city of Querétaro. It is a symbol of the city of Querétaro and one of the largest aqueducts in Mexico. It forms a part of the historic center of Querétaro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The aqueduct is 1,280 metres (4,200 ft) long. It has 74 arches, which reach an average height of 28.5 m (94 ft).
The following is a timeline of the history of Havana, Cuba.
The Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País de la Habana or Real Sociedad Patriótica de la Habana is a learned society in Havana, Cuba. It was initially organized to promote agriculture, commerce, education, and industry, modelled on the Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País in Spain. Founding members included Diego de la Barrera, Francisco Joseph Basabe, José Agustín Caballero, Luis de Las Casas, Juan Manuel O'Farrill, Tomás Romay y Luis Peñalver, and Antonio Robledo. In its early decades the group produced publications, maintained a library in the Convento de Santo Domingo (1800-1844), and arranged educational programs. Around the 1790s the group built the Hospicio o Casa de Beneficencia in Havana.
Calabazar is a ward of the city of Havana, the capital of Cuba, belonging to the municipal borough of Boyeros. In 2011, it had a population of 20,069.
The Quinta de Los Molinos is more than two centuries old and a national monument, an oasis in the heart of the city located at the intersection of one of Havana’s heaviest traffic arteries: Infanta, Carlos III, and Boyeros avenues. The Quinta since colonial times has had a complicated history to various events and characters, mainly with General Máximo Gómez.
References
↑ José Luis Casaseca,: Informe sobre los análisis de las aguas del Almendares y de Vento – In: Memoria sobre el Proyecto de conducción a la Habana de las aguas de los manantiales de Vento Imprenta del Gobierno y Capitanía General por S. M., Habana, 1856
↑ Francisco de Alvear y Lara – Memoria sobre el proyecto de conducción a La Habana de las aguas de los manantiales de Vento. Formado de orden del Exmo. Sr. Governador Capitán General de la Isla de Cuba, D. José Gutiérrez de la Concha, por la Comisión encargada del estudio para abastecer de agua potable a La Habana. - La Habana: Imprenta del Gobierno y Capitanía General, 1856.
↑ Francisco de Albear y Fernández de Lara –Memoria del Proyecto de depósito de recepción y de distribución de las aguas del Canal de Vento , Habana, septiembre de 1876,
↑ Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana, - Habana, 1880
↑ Joaquín Ruiz – Canal de Albear – In Memoria acerca del Estado y Adelantos del Excmo. Ayuntamiento de La Habana Imp. La Tipografía, a cargo de Manuel Santana, Habana, 1897,
↑ Joaquín Ruiz – El Brigadier Albear. Necrología - Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana, Habana, 1915–1916
↑ E. Sherman Gould – The New Water-Works of Havana City, American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, No 790, December 1896.
↑ Real Orden remitiendo a los Gobernadores Generales de las Islas de Cuba, Puerto Rico y Filipinas la relación de los expositores premiados en la Exposición de París Ministerio de Educación y Cultura de España, Archivo Histórico Nacional
↑ Enrique J. Montolieu y de la Torre – Elogio de Albear Anales de la Real Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana, - La Habana, 1937
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
