Santo Domingo.- A former Hydraulic Resources Institute (Indhri) director on Tuesday criticized the alleged deterioration of the country’s dams, blaming it on the authorities’ “negligence.”

Augusto Rodriguez said measurements of the sediments in the dams haven’t been taken since 1992, and that the Governments have abandoned the country’s hydrometric stations. “In our tenure we had the most modern hydrometric stations in the mountains, allowing us to gauge the amount of water falling when storms approached and take the measures in each dam as to how to open their floodgates, all that has disappeared because nobody is interested in the least.”

Interviewed by Antena Latina TV, the expert said the situation has resulted that when it rains it cannot be determined how much is falling on the hills.

Regarding the Monte Grande dam project, Rodriguez asked the authorities to pay “much attention” to its evaluation and construction.

He said it’s an investment which has to be deeply studied and analyzed, because the studies can reveal certain complications, citing as an example, the type of sediment within the mountains.

“There’s another problem with Monte Grande. It must have a  capacity of at least 400 million cubic meters to control  the floods, as well as 200 million in the passive dam, so we must have at least 600 million cubic meters to contain the floods and that already gives us an idea of the dam’s immensity,” he said.

SOURCE: elcaribe.com.do