Project aims to boost water flow in major basins

Santo Domingo.- The restoration of riparian forests, the improvement of agricultural ecosystems and growers  motivated to use soils correctly are actions being carried out to maintain and increase water flow in the country’s main watersheds.

Dubbed “Water for the Future,” The Coca Cola Company, Bepensa Dominicana and The Nature Conservancy, on Monday unveiled the project of which seeks to return to nature “100 percent” of the water used in productive activities.

“Not all basins have the same characteristics. We have to evaluate the geology, see the permeability of the soils, the type of vegetation to be used, native and endemic plants. It’s a mechanism that requires a design,” said Francisco Núñez, The Nature Conservancy director for the Antilles.

He said it’s not simply a matter of reforestation, but of rehabilitating ecosystems so they can produce water.

In that regard, Bepensa Dominicana business manager Juan Amell said the work began in 2013, focused on the upper basins of the Nizao, Haina, Ozama and Yaque del Norte rivers, to optimize water production.

According to The Nature Conservancy country director Carlos Garcia, studies are conducted before intervening watersheds.