Rain is forecast over a large part of the country, but not until this weekend, Saturday 17, and Sunday 18 May 2015, continuing into Monday. This should ease the “critical” situation affecting the country’s reservoirs and farm production. National Hydraulic Resources Institute (INDRHI) director Olgo Fernandez said yesterday, Wednesday 13 May 2015 that due to the prolonged drought, most reservoirs are operating below their minimum levels.
“When a reservoir operates beneath its minimum level, we have to inform the country, to the other institutions, especially to let them know that we are operating in the red, because we do not have enough water stored to be able to fulfill the required supply and be able to meet the country’s demands,” he said.
He commented that only the reservoirs at Hatillo and Rincon, out of a total of 34 reservoirs, had an adequate water supply. This is the result of heavy rainfall in the provinces of Sanchez Ramirez (Cotui) and La Vega in February.
Meanwhile, National Meteorological Office (Onamet) director Gloria Ceballos said that since the end of 2013 and during 2014 the rains have been consistently below the normal levels. This panorama was not improved by the “pathetic” rains of May, she added.
“The El Nino effect (the warming of waters in the Pacific) is going to continue at least until the end of summer. A situation similar to what we are experiencing is going to continue. We see that the Atlantic is very quiet, in that there are no atmospheric disturbances, the water temperatures are below normal, which is the main ingredient for creating these disturbances, which are what bring rain in these months,” she explained.
Nonetheless, she did say that they were expecting rain by mid-May, caused by the first tropical wave to move through the Atlantic. “But the waves are similar to last year. Which means at least, that the first ones that form are going to go very far south, and they’re not going to bring the rains that we need for this stress that the soil is suffering to be reduced, as a result of the rains in May,” she added, as reported in Diario Libre.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/05/13/i1145831_embalses-del-pas-estado-crtico-por-sequa.html