The seasonal drought that has affected the country since the end of November of last year has reduced power generation from water sources by 30%, said the administrator of the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Company (Egehid), engineer Rafael Salazar.
He explained that priority is given to the use of water stored in the dams for human consumptionfor agricultural and livestock irrigation, and later energy production.
When being interviewed on the Climate Agenda program, by the meteorological analyst Jean Suriel, and the meteorologist Miguel Campusano, by CDN Radio, Salazar reported on the Government’s plan to recover the water storage capacity of the reservoirs and thus ensure sufficient liquid for human consumption, agricultural irrigation and electricity production, mainly in times of seasonal drought.
He gave an example of the implementation of the pilot project for cleaning the sediments of the Contrareservoir de las Barías, on the river Nizaofrom which more than 100,000 cubic meters of sediments have been extracted in just three months.
He indicated that the one in Las Barías is about a pilot project that has no cost to the Dominican State and that will allow it to be replicated in hydroelectric complexes such as Valdesia and Aguacate, also on the Nizao River, and Tavera, on the Yaque del Norte River.
“Because the agreement that was reached is that the companies that won the tender are charged with the sale of sediments, which are also added to the national construction system, and mud can also serve as fertilizer for agriculture,” said Salazar. in the interview by CDN Radio.
“So, when these seasonal drought problems come, have the ability to endure and there is no uncertainty in the population. But we have already started that process and the idea is to continue this year with Avocado and Valesia and next year to be able to incorporate other dams in extracting the thirsty, in cleaning, in the recovery of the reservoirs. It is a very interesting project for the country”, he pointed out.
emptying of the reservoir
The time for cleaning the Las Barías counterdam is estimated at 15 months, because it includes all the tailings, to leave the entire system as it was when it was built.
He explained that for this, the reservoir must be emptied, which is coordinated with the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INDRHI) and agricultural producers through the Irrigation Boards.
Salazar also raised the need to build more dams in the country in order to take advantage of surface waters, mainly in the season of greatest rainfall.
He indicated that currently the country only uses around 9.1% of the water.
“We have to have a plan and for this there is the Pact for Water, which is going to be signed in the next few days, which will allow the construction of all the dams that are necessary in the country in a planned way, as countries like Costa Rica have done. Rica and Cuba.
He also referred to the decline in the production of hydroelectric power due to the drought. He pointed out that currently daily hydroelectric generation is 2.4 to 2.5 gigawatts, numbers lower than the 3.5 gigawatts per day that occur in normal times.