When drought hits a good part of eastern Cuba, however, the mining metallurgical municipality of Moa -in the eastern end of Holguín-, continues to be the one with the most precipitation in the province.

Historically, it has been favored by its geographical location: to the East it borders Baracoa, the territory where it rains most in Cuba, and to the South with Yateras, both with privileged water resources.

Its microclimate is one of the reasons for this "blessing" to be influenced by the Sagua-Baracoa massif, whose mountains serve as barriers to the trade winds that come from the Northeast and discharge their rains in the region.

According to information from the Holguín Hydraulic Utilization Company, the accumulated in Moa territory -from January to mid-March of this year- is 299 millimeters (mm), which still represents 81.5 percent of the historical average for the period, it is the largest in the province.

The hydrographic network of that territory is distinguished by its abundance. It has the Moa River that drains an area of 248 km² and is 42 km long, and as its tributaries, there are "Los Lirios" and "Cabaña". It is also fed by the Jiguaní, Jaguaní, Quesigua and Cayo Guam rivers, and the María brook, which rises in the hills of Miraflores and crosses the head town of the mining municipality until it reaches the sea to the north.

Everything indicates that the studies carried out by Fray Ramón Pané were accurate, and that Moa means in the Aruaca language "Agua aquí" from the time when the region was inhabited by the Aruacos or Taínos. In the language spoken by these primitive inhabitants, the sound M is translated as water and "oa" as a location suffix.

The abundance of its water table, allowed that in the lower area of the peripheral neighborhood La Veguita, in the vicinity of the Moa River, there are five tubular wells of natural springs, of which two are in operation, with pumping stations for the supply to several distributions of that mining community, producer of nickel and cobalt.

Another of its remarkable resources lies in its hydraulic set of excellence, which - about 20 kilometers south of the city to the mountains - has the dam that bears the name of the municipality, although it is popularly called "New World" in Allusion to the Construction Project, with a capacity for 141 million cubic meters. In mid-March of this 2019 its volume was 91.7 million, for 65 percent.

Moreover, it has a diverter, seven kilometers from the so-called Cuban nickel capital, which can store 2.8 million cubic meters and has three floodgates for dumping operations in times of heavy rains, which are not a few, in order toavoid flooding in neighboring populated areas.


The waters of this reservoir are treated in the water treatment plant of the Company of the Nickel Commander Ernesto Che Guevara. They receive, in each technological link, several purification processes such as chemical treatment, constantly monitored by their certified laboratories.
The follow-up given by the Eastern Department of the Holguín Hydraulic Utilization Company and Public Health with physical-chemical analysis, ensures the quality of the vital liquid of thisreservoir, before being distributed, according to each one of its purposes. It supplies practically all the clients of the state sector, the industrial zone, the entities of the CubaNíquel Group and the distributions of multifamily buildings built after the Revolution inthe city.

Although in that municipality it does not rain as much as it did 30 years ago -according to old residents- and the influence of climate change is perceived, the rains -which often surprise in the evenings and early mornings- are more frequent in this region, which hoards regions such as the Alejandro de Humboldt Natural Park, rich watersheds and the most exuberant vegetation of the islands of the Caribbean Sea.