Santo Domingo. – President Luis Abinader led the signing of an agreement to prepare a Water Management Master Plan in the Dominican Republic, allowing the State to manage this resource efficiently and effectively, creating the conditions for long-term sustainability term.
The agreement was signed by the executive director of the National Institute of Drinking Water and Sewerage (Inapa), Wellington Arnaud, and the president of the Israeli state institution Mekorot, Yitzhak Aharonovitch.
The president stated that Israel had been an example in many areas, including water management. In that order, he said that this Government seeks to assimilate the best practices in different countries to adjust them to the national reality. Therefore, he has expressed his full support since he learned about this agreement.
“And today after several months of negotiation, we are here signing this agreement, this Master Plan for Water Management and Conservation in the Dominican Republic, between our Government and the State of Israel,” Abinader said.
He added: We are completely sure that these will be fundamental guidelines for conserving and making water more efficient. It is an agreement between two government institutions that we are also interested in seeing their practices and achievements for so many years.
President Abinader assured that this agreement strengthens his commitment to the National Pact for Water and advances his inalienable priority of bringing efficient and quality water service to every Dominican home.
The Head of State stressed that his Government has water as one of the priority objectives to improve the quality of life. For this reason, it has allocated five times more budget than what had been done previously. They are doing enormous work in different areas of the country to alleviate the drought.
He thanked the Government of Israel for its always collaboration as a friendly country that together tries to solve the problems that arise, and this agreement, he said, will not only help the guidelines of INAPA but will also be incorporated into the Pact of Water so that, together with the other aqueduct and sewerage corporations in the country, the guidelines and recommendations of this agreement can be applied throughout the country.
“I do not have to insist or repeat, gentlemen, that one of the great challenges of any public administration today and increasingly in the coming years will be the efficient management of water, drinking water, irrigation water, that is essential, Abinader said.
In President Abinader’s opinion, the droughts currently being experienced are due to climate change. For this reason, it is necessary to “make the Dominican people aware that we are really in a water crisis and that we have to act accordingly.”
Main Objectives of the Plan
For his part, the director of INAPA, Wellington Arnaud, highlighted that Israel is today a world model of the success obtained from public water management and explained that this plan has five main objectives: to evaluate the current availability, the losses, and the uses of water resources, formulate alternative development scenarios for the management of drinking water and demand/use in various planning horizons (2030, 2040, 2050).
Also, develop solutions according to the territorial reality of each region, identifying alternative sources that meet their needs in the consumption of drinking water and sanitation, identify legal regulations for the measurement, consumption, reduction, and protection of water resources, and manage insurance of the main sources to cover the demand for water in the future.
They consider the DR as a friendly nation of Israel.
Meanwhile, the president of the Israeli state institution Mekorot, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, stated that, as an institution, they are very happy and content. It is an honor to be in the Dominican Republic, which he considers a friendly nation of Israel, adding that in a short time, the Mekorot equipment for managing water resources will arrive in the country.
He considered that this agreement encourages sharing the experience they have of more than 85 years in the water sector and that, mainly, it is necessary to learn to transform the people’s culture and education for responsible water consumption.
The activity was attended by the minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos; of Housing and Buildings, Carlos Bonilla; the ambassador of the State of Israel, Daniel Brian Bayor; the Vice Minister of Soils and Water, René Mateo and the director of the Water Cabinet, Gilberto Reynoso.
