A strong water shortage has been felt for a week in the province of Santo Domingo Este, but since yesterday, Saturday, the situation has become critical, forcing the municipalities to buy water trucks at high prices.
A 2,500-gallon truck could be obtained for RD$1,700 at a great price, so the menudo remained in the hands of those who made quick arrangements, since private owners deal with service lists of up to three days.
A small 1,500 gallon tank costs RD$1,200 and RD$1,300. Before it was worth RD$800. And the big one was worth what the little one costs now.
With great insistence and if the cistern is in the canopy in front they serve you, because they don’t go if it’s in the back or they think it’s uncomfortable to fill quickly due to the load of orders they have, said a neighbor from the Villa Faro sector.
All day today small and large trucks and vans with water tanks or plastic tanks cross in search of the liquid.
In a park area where there is a well, buckets were observed in a row to be filled in turn.
The country, like many other parts of the world, is going through a severe drought attributed to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon. The water shortage is expected to last a while longer due to the lack of rain and the conditions of the reservoirs.
The municipalities ask that the rationalization of water be done with justice, since the water businesses are taking advantage by raising the price of trucks, as well as grocery stores that sell bottles and that have gone from RD$85 to RD$90 and almost never have often to return for what comes to RD$100.
In addition, that they be provided with free water from the CAASD to face the high out-of-pocket cost with inflation, to which is now added the need to buy water in trucks.
Access to water and sanitation is a vital resource for humanity, contemplated in objective 6 of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).
Growing consumption and climate change are generating a "imminent risk" world water crisis, warns a UN report published on Tuesday, according to international publications that also report that some 2,000 million people do not have access to drinking water and 3,699 million do not have access to safe sanitation services, says the report UN-Water and Unesco.