Haiti’s water and sanitation crisis deepened significantly in 2022 as the gang fuel blockades that periodically cut off diesel supplies disrupted the pump systems on which water treatment and distribution depended, the ongoing political crisis prevented maintenance investment in aging infrastructure, and the cholera outbreak created new urgency around the connection between contaminated water and deadly disease. By the end of the year, estimates suggested that less than half the population had access to safely managed drinking water.
In Port-au-Prince, neighborhoods where the municipal water system had ever functioned saw their service become even more unreliable as the fuel shortages prevented the operation of pumping stations. Communities that had relied on a water tap that worked a few hours per day found themselves with no service at all during blockade periods, forced to purchase water from vendors at prices that consumed significant portions of household budgets.
The cholera outbreak made the water access problem a life-or-death issue rather than merely a development challenge. Cholera transmission through contaminated water meant that communities without safe water access were not just inconvenienced but endangered. The direct line between the gang blockade of the fuel terminal and the cholera deaths in affected communities was a concrete illustration of how the criminal crisis killed people through mechanisms that extended far beyond direct violence.
Water and sanitation organizations called for emergency investment in water infrastructure that could be maintained with less fuel dependency — solar-powered pumping systems, rainwater collection, and gravity-fed distribution where topography allowed. They argued that building resilience into water infrastructure was a humanitarian necessity in a country where fuel supply disruptions had become a recurring crisis.