The DR has little water and high consumption
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.- The Dominican Republic has a per capital demand for water of 2,378 cubic meters per year, which classifies it as a country with general problems with water, and with water related tensions in years of extreme scarcity of water.
This statement is contained in a joint declaration by the Ministry of the Environment and the state organizations that deal with water (Indrhi and Inapa, for example) to celebrate the World Water Day next 22 March.
The group of institutions warns that the country has a problem of the relatively low availability of water added to a culture of high consumption and poor use, with losses in the order of 50% of the production of the supply systems of potable water that reflect an efficiency of irrigation of just 25%.
The document in question emphasizes that in the country there are approximately12 billion cubic meters of water that represent 49% of the usable water, so the index of water scarcity is very low, and that "could produce a limiting factor for national development, if the proper measures are not taken to face up to the situation."
The institutions that have to do with water say that, in spite of the fact that water occupies three quarters of the earth's surface, thousands of inhabitants of the earth suffer scarcity and even die of thirst, due to the fact that 97.5% of the water is saltwater, leaving just 2.5% of fresh water.
"No matter this reality, the per capita consumption of potable water in the country is high, surpassing, in some urban locations 500 liters per person on a daily basis, when the international norms specify a rational consumption of 200 to 250 liters per person per day," according to the document. The ceremony was attended by the executives of the institutions that are called upon to preserve the nation's freshwater.
This statement is contained in a joint declaration by the Ministry of the Environment and the state organizations that deal with water (Indrhi and Inapa, for example) to celebrate the World Water Day next 22 March.
The group of institutions warns that the country has a problem of the relatively low availability of water added to a culture of high consumption and poor use, with losses in the order of 50% of the production of the supply systems of potable water that reflect an efficiency of irrigation of just 25%.
The document in question emphasizes that in the country there are approximately12 billion cubic meters of water that represent 49% of the usable water, so the index of water scarcity is very low, and that "could produce a limiting factor for national development, if the proper measures are not taken to face up to the situation."
The institutions that have to do with water say that, in spite of the fact that water occupies three quarters of the earth's surface, thousands of inhabitants of the earth suffer scarcity and even die of thirst, due to the fact that 97.5% of the water is saltwater, leaving just 2.5% of fresh water.
"No matter this reality, the per capita consumption of potable water in the country is high, surpassing, in some urban locations 500 liters per person on a daily basis, when the international norms specify a rational consumption of 200 to 250 liters per person per day," according to the document. The ceremony was attended by the executives of the institutions that are called upon to preserve the nation's freshwater.