The damages caused by the current drought throughout much of the Cibao Valley, especially in northwestern provinces (La Línea Noroeste) that include Valverde, Santiago Rodriguez, Montecristi and Santiago provinces, is hurting not only agriculture and livestock but in many of the towns and villages people are struggling to obtain drinking water.
Sporadic showers have not made an impact on the situation and the rivers are drying up. The report that milk producers are going bankrupt is only part of the story. In the provincial capital of Sabaneta, in Santiago Rodriguez province, the local manager for the National Water Institute (INAPA) told reporters that the current situation is “critical.” Curiously, the official noted that a micro-generating facility installed by the Rural and Suburban Electrification Unit (URES), upstream from the local aqueduct is part of the problem since it reduces the flow of water to a very bare minimum.
The National Water Watch at the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) notes that since last May 2018, the country has been suffering from an extended reduction in rainfall.
Luis Cuevas, the head of the Operating Systems Division at INDRHI, said that they have been watching the development of the drought and currently the nation’s reservoirs are at a critical stage, with Sabaneta, Moncion, and Sabana Yegua the most serious cases. Levels are so low that the reservoirs will need at least two months of good rains in order to return to normal.
And according to the recent report by Luis Felipe Jerez, from the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), rains will be between 40% and 45% below normal for the coming months. He said that the recent rains, the product of a low-pressure trough passing over the island, will do little to mitigate the drought.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Listin Diario
20 May 2019