Omar Ramírez Tejada, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, and the syndicate of Constanza, Joaquín Gómez, President of the Mancomunidad Madre de las Aguas, signed an inter-institutional agreement on Friday in which they have agreed to collaborate on environmental issues.

“This agreement is part of the Ministry of Environment’s policy to protect and preserve our most important natural resource, water, as a way of guaranteeing better quality of life for Dominican citizens,”...

Madre de las Aguas (Mother of the Waters) is an organization that brings together the five municipalities that produce most of the country’s drinking water. The organization is made up of the town councils of Constanza, Jarabacoa, Jánico, San José de Las Matas and Monción, according to a press release from of the Ministry of Environment’s Communication Department.

“This agreement is part of the Ministry of Environment’s policy to protect and preserve our most important natural resource, water, as a way of guaranteeing better quality of life for Dominican citizens,” said the Environment Minister.

As part of the agreement, the organizations involved will promote the creation of the Municipal Green Fund that will involve public and private sectors in projects and construction that will improve environmental management around the country, the cost of which exceeds the budgets of the individual municipalities.

In addition, the plan foresees the development of a joint reforestation project along the lines of the Green Quisqueya Plan. They will plant evergreen trees for soil protection as well as for commercial use (as a special incentive for interested landowners) and for educational and environmental consciousness-raising.

The open-ended agreement, also contemplates the idea of co-sponsoring with the five Mancomunidad Municipalities, the building of “green filters” in the streams and gullies where polluted run-off waters from contaminated rivers feed into the drinking water sources and treatment plants in the communities located near polluted rivers and/or streams. The agreement will also guarantee that municipal investments and budgets promoting the “green menu” will be included among the important elements of local and national government as well as other participating national and international organizations.

Valle Constanza