Plan to manage largest Dominican river basin nearly ready

Santo Domingo. – The technicians who elaborate the Yaque del Norte river basin management plan are near its completion, which will be submitted to president Danilo Medina by the end of May.

In the last meeting Presidential Commission (CRYN), chairman and Presidency chief of staff, Gustavo Montalvo, and the various sectors presented progress on the project, which aims to democratize Water management

“The work of this commission is inclusive because it includes all the stakeholders in the basin, it is widely participatory because it receives proposals from the different actors and integral because it addresses the entire basin,” said Montalvo.

He said they’ve been working for two months and will be ready to present the results of the initial work by the end of May.

In that regard, the geographer and project advisor, Rafael Emilio Yunén, said the action poses an important and new challenge. “It’s about achieving a governance scheme that helps the planning and action of the different projects that are going to be carried out.”

“This governance scheme consists of distributing power quotas in all the territorial actors that are involved in the care, management, promotion, and development of the Yaque del Norte river basin,” he said.

Yunen said the creation of watershed management units is sought at the various levels both at the sub-basin and at the level of the upper, middle and lower basins.

For her part, project consultant, Olga Luciano, said they have been focusing on fundamental conceptual aspects, taking into account that the water resource is linked with other means.

“If we have soil erosion, we do not have water; if we have sedimentation, the hydraulic works diminish their useful life; If there are pollution problems, we will not have quality water,” she said, adding that it is a whole set of resources and actors that have to agree and in all this “we must take into account the water demand of  nature.”