Waldys Taveras, executive director of the Commonwealth of Greater Santo Domingo, urges city councils to see to the cleaning of rainwater drains. Taveras says these are clogged with debris following Friday, 4 November 2022 torrential rains, as reported in Hoy.
Taveras likewise urges the start of an educational campaign to reduce the use of plastics that affect city drainage in general.
“Plastics have completely clogged the few sewers that we have in the Polígono Central,” said Taveras when referring to the capital city’s most dense business and residential district.
He said that with the heavy flooding, there is a danger of some infectious diseases because homes and businesses use cisterns to store drinking water and septic tanks to collect sewage.
“They have probably been contaminated and may present health difficulties in the future,” said Taveras.
Moreover, he said no city is prepared to receive the large amount of rainfall without a storm drainage system.
On Friday, 4 November 2022, 228 mm of rain fell in the National District, most in the Polígono Central, in three hours. The intense rainfall compares to the 328 mm that fell in 24 hours during the 1998 category 3 Hurricane Georges that affected the capital city.
Taveras also reported that sewage system barely serves 25% of the capital city area. He says there are only 689 sewers for 1,400,000 linear meters of roads, when there should be 3,500.
Taveras urged the government take advantage of the natural drains that flow into the Caribbean Sea and the Ozama and Isabela rivers and the one that originated in the Máximo Gómez Avenue with the construction of the subway.
Taveras cited as an aggravating factor the constructions erected on the natural drainage routes and along the routes of the gullies, making it difficult for the rainwater to drain towards the sea or rivers.
Taveras said on the Esta Noche con Mariasela round table on the city flooding on 8 November 2022 that the city government under Mayor Carolina Mejia had bought its first sewage suction truck to clean the sewers, but that single truck is not enough for the National District. He addressed the problems created by the lack of green areas, trees and the construction of high rises where there were single dwellings with large patios. The city government under Carolina Mejía has been probably the most permissive with the developers of high rises in the Polígono Central without changes in basic services, adding to the complexity of the problem.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
Esta Noche con Mariasela
9 November 2022