Every day, this city’s sewage—20 untreated tons of it—flows straight into Havana harbor. So does untreated industrial waste from the Nico Lopez oil refinery.

Small wonder Havana harbor is among the most polluted water bodies in the world.

When it comes to Cuba, however, problems like these don’t get much attention in the international press. Far more prominent are the latest twists and turns in U.S.-Cuban relations—for instance, news this month that the United States plans to ease up slightly on its hard-line policy toward the island.

So as Cuba’s international relations story unfolds, serious and mounting environmental pollution here quietly takes its toll, threatening land, water, animals—even public health.

Of most immediate concern is the deterioration of water and sewage-treatment capacity, largely the result of a decade-long economic funk Cuba has been in since the demise of its long-time supporter, the Soviet Union.

According to a 1993 study by the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization, 17% of urban homes and 70% of rural residences had no potable water. Meanwhile the share of urban and rural residences without sewerage stood, respectively, at 60% and nearly 95%.

The study, part of the health organizations’ Regional Plan for Investment in Environment and Health, noted a consequent increase in cases of severe illness and death from dysentery and other diseases.

Given Cuba’s continuing economic problems, sewage and water treatment problems remain. Yet there also are other pressing environmental problems.

The sugar industry is the biggest source of industrial pollution, according to Rosa Elena Simeón, Cuba’s minister of Science, Technology and Environment. Cuba’s 152 sugar refineries produce nearly 2 million tons of waste for every million tons of sugar, she says.

Ill-planned development is also cause for concern. For instance, construction of earthen berms to promote cheaper, overland transport of tourists and merchandise to near-shore islands harmed coastal ecosystems and was blamed for deaths of dolphins and flamingos.

Meanwhile, a long-standing government program has boosted the number of irrigation and flood control dams in Cuba from 13 to 222 over four decades—but also diminished water flow and upped soil salinity, harming wildlife.

And in the 3,816-square-mile (9,540-sq-km) Cauto River watershed in eastern Cuba, construction of the Cauto-El Paso Dam and discharges from factories and homes are blamed for a variety of environmental problems.

Unrestrained development in the watershed has caused deforestation and erosion, harmed shrimp breeding grounds, and threatened nesting areas of crocodiles and flamingos, according to the officialist daily, Granma.

The government plans to seed more than 1,100 acres (450 hectares), eliminate 25 pollution sources and restore 35 contaminated sites in the valley, home to about 1 million people.

Indeed, the Cuban government has begun moving on a number of fronts to improve environmental cleanup and enforcement.

A new environmental law earmarks $30 million for cleaning up contaminated sites, and the Ministry of Finances and Costs is studying the creation of a National Environment Fund to finance future projects.

The new law, Environmental Law 81, requires backers of development projects to show their investments will cover all necessary pollution control. If they cannot, they will be denied environmental licenses for the project.

So far, Simeón says, authorities have denied licenses for 20 projects.

To reduce pollution in the sugar industry, the government is promoting the re-use of refinery wastes as fertilizer and animal feed. Such re-use dropped off as a result of the ongoing economic crisis, but Simeón says: “Right now all that is being reactivated.”

It also is pushing projects to recycle sugar waste into commercial products including wax, shoe polish, and the touted cholesterol-reduction medicine policosanol, or PPG.

Steps also are being taken to improve monitoring. For instance, the federal Environmental Inspection and Management Center recently installed a computer system to help monitor hazardous industrial discharges, says spokeswoman Clara Hernández.

According to Simeón, U.S. restrictions on trade with Cuba “impede access to some technologies.” But the main obstacle to improving environmental protection, she says, has been the poor condition overall of the nation’s economy and the consequent shortages of funds.

For now, these shortages, and Cuba’s
environmental pressures, look likely to continue.