Water emergencies brought to the forefront of national attention

The liquid essential for life does not reach Dominican city and rural households in a drinkable form in a sufficient way (41% and 35% respectively), in addition to the fact that less is dammed up than is advisable to prevent it from being lost in the sea without being used. In contrast to this fundamental liquidity, which has nothing to do with money, there is also the disorderly drilling of tube wells that endangers subsoil reserves, while the disappearance of forests and the progressive effects of climate change weigh heavily on natural resources, including water, which specific measures should prevent from running towards an uncertain destiny.

The country must be warned that the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, such as the one that recently unleashed a wave of poisoning in Cibao schoolchildren, can infiltrate toxicity into aquifers and increase salinity to the detriment of crops. Furthermore, the excessive extraction of water from the subsoil alters the balance between salt and fresh water, allowing a saline invasion to spread inland from the coasts. In their final stretch, the Ozama River and others have a “taste” of sea and garbage in their flows.

However, current and previous governments have left the country in the absence of an updated organic law to guide the steps of the State and society towards effective protection of water and its reserves. Twenty years of delays without any modest attempt to reconcile particular interests with those of the Republic. A barrier against privatizing greed. The current president promises to address this vacuum by 2027.

In terms of food production using water, the Dominican Republic appears on the list of countries that, due to their island status and coastal plains, will be most affected by climate change and rising sea levels. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) predicts that by 2050, water requirements for agriculture will have grown by 50%. What will that resource be like in those 48 thousand square kilometers by then?

In an appearance at this newspaper’s Economic Meeting, the Integral Rural Development Movement considered that the failure to comply with pesticide residue limits and the use of inefficient irrigation pose a challenge for the country in agricultural matters, “which endangers food security and affects exports of fresh produce.”

They explained that “with the salinity of the soil, unproductive areas are increasing, especially in areas where intensive rice cultivation predominates”.

The directors of the organization advocated a change in the production model that would involve greater regulation in the use of chemical products and the zoning of crops. Organic bananas grown in the northwest region for export to Europe are one of the most affected. The country is the world’s leading exporter of bananas,

a risk of the same magnitude arises from open-pit mining, according to social and environmental organizations, with the possible arrival at the Hatillo dam reservoir of waste from gold mining in Pueblo Viejo. For that entity, the supply of drinking water is uncertain at the regional level.

When an environmental monitoring body is asked what is happening in the Dominican Republic with soil contamination, they respond that “the use of inappropriate farming techniques and overgrazing are the main causes of soil erosion”. They point out that, in general, deforested areas cause erosion and that the fight against the depredation of mountain systems and fertile valleys has not been enough.

Sediment attack

In 2021, a diagnosis by the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) admitted that the sedimentation rate in the Jigüey-Aguacate, Tavera, Sabaneta, Sabana Yegua and Valdesia dams was progressing faster than expected, which meant that their useful life was being prematurely shortened.

In December, in an accountability report for the whole of 2024, the hydraulic body reported on maintenance work on irrigation channels throughout the country to guarantee water for millions of tasks that provide 80% of agricultural production, including channel adaptation and gabion placement; but it said nothing about containing sediments that go into reservoirs or forceful actions to dredge reservoirs and preserve capacities.

At another point, the spokesperson for the Dam Committee, Luis Cuevas, told the country that although there is no precise information on sedimentation in the artificial lakes, it is estimated to be around 20% of the flow, some 328.8 million cubic meters. It is hoped that a reduction in deforestation will improve the outlook in the medium term.

Meanwhile, past reports indicated that the hydroelectric plant on the dammed Jimenoa River had a constant loss of US$5.29 million due to non-operation and a separate report indicated that the sedimentation volume of the Tavera dam was at 35.9% of its size. From there, water goes to the Santiago and Moca aqueducts, to electricity generation and to irrigation systems.

By 2010, the sedimentation verified – according to archive reports – by the INDRHI indicated that the accumulation due to river drags towards the Valdesia and Aguacate reservoirs reached 60% of their beds. Both are part of one of the oldest hydraulic systems in the country and no subsequent news record has indicated that this reality was changed or its causes diminished. Valdesia is an important source of the primary liquid for the CAASD.

Critical resource

Both because of the irrational way in which the essential liquid is condemned to waste in the country, and because it is allowed to flow into the sea and the subsoil when it contains filth, it is a natural resource whose essential condition for human existence is not recognized, nor the fact that it is being taken to critical levels by uses and contaminations.

In a press conference, Osiris de León, coordinator of the Natural Sciences and Environment Commission of the Academy of Sciences, recalled that 75% of the territory of the National District and the province of Santo Domingo lacks sanitary sewers to prevent the invasion of the subsoil. Which would mean (we add) that if both municipal jurisdictions were to be seen as a single quadrant, it would be a piece of land floating in the defecations of almost everyone who resides on it.

The scientist warned that due to the accumulation of sewage, generated considerably by the drilling of wells to dispose of defecation, there is a risk that water for human consumption will be severely contaminated.

“The water that flows from the toilets in homes into wells built in patios (or in the pavement in front) goes to the same place as the groundwater that is then extracted for basic needs, a consequence that people do not think about”.

Claudio Caamaño Vélez, professor of agronomy, was keen to point out that in the Dominican Republic 70% of the water that goes to agriculture is wasted. After all, 57% of all the water available at the national level is lost in the fields. Added to this is the excessive use of inputs that throw chemicals into rivers and groundwater.

Global threat

The section of the UN FAO that monitors the waters and territories of the Caribbean zone has set out to sound the alarm about the effects of climate change in this zone, which it considers to be exposed to the depletion of its sources of this essential liquid, and has specified:

“Rising sea levels could contaminate drinking water sources and changing weather patterns could reduce the amount of rain reaching dams in the coming decades.” This was an exhibition at a conference held some time ago on the island of Saint Lucia.

Some of the possible solutions put forward were to increase the use of desalination plants and to better manage existing water supplies in an archipelago where many governments are burdened by heavy debt and have few new sources of income. “Many Caribbean countries depend exclusively on groundwater to meet their needs, a vulnerable resource that will be affected by climate change.”