The Director of the National Environmental Protection Institute (INPRA), has proposed that a special "rescue council" be created to clean up the increasingly contaminated Ozama River. Zoila González suggested that the council include INPRA, the Santo Domingo government, the National Council for Municipal Affairs (CONAU) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that work in the areas surrounding the River. A cooperative effort is needed between local officials and the national authorities, explained González, because by law municipal authorities are responsible for basic sanitation while the national government handles contamination of waters, air and soil. In the case of the Ozama basin, all aspects are interconnected. She said that INPRA is interested in formulating and implementing a rescue plan similar to that successfully used by Cuban authorities, working with United Nations aid and experts, to clean up Havana Bay.
