Few people know the history of the Yaque River, and even fewer realize the effort that is being made to clean up the most important river, economically speaking, in the Dominican Republic. Years ago, when there were dense pine and mahogany forests in the Central Mountain Range, the trees were felled, and the trunks thrown into the Yaque for delivery to sawmills in Santiago. The river was so wide that it kept the Haitian army from successfully attacking Santiago in 1844.
Today, the old swimming holes are abandoned, many of its tributaries are mere shadows of their former waterflow, but the river still provides water for millions of people and agricultural irrigation to feed more millions. It is also highly contaminated.
The Yaque del Norte Water Fund (FAYN), headed by Benito Ferreiras, the rector of ISA University, and backed by the Santiago Free Zone Corporation, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Water and Sewer Corporation of Santiago (CORAASAN) and the Saltadero Foundation recently cut the ribbon for the “Saltos de Jacagua” residual water treatment plant, within the watershed area of the Yaque del Norte.
The Yaque del Norte Water Fund, Plan Yaque and the Popular Foundation are working on 21 water treatment plants to be put into service this year to reduce contamination in the Yaque del Norte River.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
6 September 2021