Collapse of wells in East and North Santo Domingo

SANTO DOMINGO. The Water and Sewer Corporation of Santo Domingo (CAASD) admitted yesterday that nearly 40% of the system of wells of East Santo Domingo is out of service which has caused a serious situation of scarce water even after the seasonal dry spell.

The Caasd director, Alejandro Montas, indicated that the collapse of all those systems reduces the capacity to produce water for the city by 40 million gallons, which translates into a lack of stability in the distribution of water.

Montas explained that the well systems that supply all of the Mella Highway, in East Santo Domingo, are working at half capacity. The same thing is happening with those that supply a large part of North Santo Domingo.

"They are repairing the well systems of Brujuelas-Casui, Los Marenos, of La Joya in East Santo Domingo. In North Santo Domingo, they are repairing Mata Mamon, Sabana Perdida and San Felipe," Montas said.

Nevertheless, he admitted that it will be at least two months before the repairs are finished and the water supply returns to normal.

The crisis situation is also being affected by specific problems in East and West Santo Domingo.

"Last weekend we were affected by an electrical failure at a substation."

The breakdown consisted of damage to a circuit breaker of medium tension. From this substation the systems of Brujuela Sasui, La Joya and Los Marenos are supplied.

"This implicated work for 48 hours with the wells out of service, from Friday at two o'clock in the afternoon until Sunday at three in the afternoon," he said.

At the same time, yesterday "in the well fields of La Joya and Los Marenos, the system was out again, because we are substituting a valve that keeps the residents of El Brisal without water. The valve was changed and the service will be reestablished during the day."

He said that in West Santo Domingo "in Las Minas of El Café they are construction a well and we have spoken to the contractor for the installation to finish the well in the shortest time possible, some two weeks," Regarding El Café de Herrera "We have three wells that are out of service, and they are working on resolving the problem."

The Caasd director indicated that together with the well systems "they are working on repairing wells that service specific sectors."

Montas defended the fact that part of the more than RD$200 million that were announced in recent investments will be invested in the wells that need to be repaired.

"Of those funds, the priority has been the repair of all of those well systems. We are sure that the service will improve substantially as a result of the repairs that are going on."

Added to the complaints about a scarcity of water are more complaints from the area around the Las Americas Avenue, Los Mina, Los Mameyes and the other barrios of East Santo Domingo.

Diario Libre