Prettiest Dominican city must ‘stop dumping its s—t into the river’

Santo Domingo.- Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic’s city of the"Eternal Spring" basks in the economic boom especially evidencedduring long weekends’ when visitors converge by the thousands, must stop dumpingits s—t into the Yaque del Norte river, whose very existence threatened as thenorth region’s main source of water for homes and farms.

Arguably the country’s most beautiful town nestled in the highlandsof La Vega province, Jarabacoa turns especially vibrant with its unrivaled ecotourismbacked by hundreds of villas and hotel rooms and as many as 12 housing projects.

It also provides extreme sports among them canyoning, alpinism,horse riding and trips to the 10,300 foot high Pico Duarte, with RanchoBaiguate and Rancho Jarabacoa pioneering the attractions.

But at the center of Jarabacoa’s enviable allure of pine forests,hundreds of streams and waterfalls, is the Yaque

Newspaper El Caribe reports that the 296-kilometer (180miles) long Yaque del Norte, which in addition to Jarabacoa, supplies piped andirrigation water to Santiago, Moca, Montecristi and Mao, is starting to showsigns of pollution from untreated water.

Won major battle, but struggle continues

In mid 2003natives of Jarabacoa were able to come togetherand fight construction of the Manabao-Bejucal-Tavera dam proposed by thenpresident Hipolito Mejia, because it would’ve detoured the river beforereaching the town.

In typical fashion an annoyed Mejia responded to whatseemed ungrateful to his good intentions. "They can continue dumping theirs—t into the river."

Unfortunately after that, the only project aimed at cleaningthe Yaque’s water has been a canal to divert the Yerba Buena stream with all thewaste dumped into it, but a link to complete the work wasn’t built and was inexplicablyabandoned.