<p>Santo Domingo.- The map caught the attention of those present, but even more what it represented. A line of arrows marked from the coast of La Romana to the Boca Chica beach marked the flow of wastewater that reaches the sea laden with fecal matter and other pollutants. “And it’s on the...
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PN. Articles like this will raise the profile of the pollution problems on the DR beaches. It may result in the cleanup of some of the beaches. It won‘t solve the problem of the degradation of the DR coastline over the long term.
The core problems are uncontrolled sewage deposition because of a lack of sewage treatment plants, the constant littering creating large amounts of persistent plastics on the beaches, and uncontrolled development creating changes in the geomorphology of the coastlines.
Sewage deposition can be resolved if the government is willing to enact legislation to prevent it, enforce it, and assist municipalities financially to enable them to build treatment infrastructure.
Littering is a cultural mindset. Education and enforcement are the two tools needed to resolve the issue. Again, it’s a government initiative and it’s takes years to ingrain an anti litter attitude in a culture. The government doesn’t have the will to enforce the necessities like traffic rules. It’s highly unlikely it will ever enforce litter laws. There may be hope for the younger generations of Dominicans but you won’t change the older generation.
The degradation of the coastlines can be mitigated with a proper coastal development plan. Something not too expensive and easily done. Unfortunately DR politicians would see this as an impediment to resort development and wouldn’t been keen to develop such a plan. The current administration has said tourism development is a high priority. Previous administrations have done the same thing. Don’t expect that to change soon.
Again, I admire your concern and perseverance. If the DR had environmental NGO’s, they could put pressure on government to resolve the issues area by area. Small steps but important steps, especially in the area of public education initiative.
A National election is not that far away. That may provide you with the opportunity to pressure politicians to do something about the coastline problems. What you want to achieve is not impossible. It takes constant attention and time to resolve the issues.
We went through the same process in Canada. We started in the 1970’s and we still continue to resolve issues today through government and non government means. We have very experienced NGO’s and Coastal planning expertise available to the DR government if they made the decision to implement proper coastline development.