Living on the banks of the La Ciénaga stream in Barahona and needing it to quench their thirst and feed themselves has brought unhappy residents into contact with one of the many extreme manifestations of territorial insalubrity (more common than one might imagine), which is conducive to severe illnesses and deaths. More than 13% of homes in the country lack piped drinking water, most of which is not connected to sanitary sewage networks. In the most extreme degrees, defecation is still practiced in the Dominican Republic without properly disposing of it. It can become a source of diarrhea outbreaks, including acute cholera or amoeba. Both can lead to death, and the watercourses that cross thousands of places receive all kinds of waste from their inhabitants. Rivers, streams, and creeks have become the final destination of filth that can reach the depositaries’ digestive tracts or those who live downstream of the waterways.
In the Dominican countryside, most of the population deserves a healthy and decent life, which would only be possible by providing low-cost rural aqueducts. Some successful pilot schemes should give way to a more far-reaching sanitation program. The health and lives of many people are at stake.