Again, the old man of the river Tireo

The problem of the Tireo River, in the area of ​​the same name in Constanza, transcends the municipality, the province and the citizens of this hard-working agricultural production area of ​​the Central Mountain Range. Eleuterio Martinez, a well-known environmental specialist, says: “the deterioration of this river affects the waters of the Yaque del Norte, Yuna and others, impacting the water production of very remote places.” Much is said and little is done and meanwhile, the set of situations that affect the upper basin of the River continue to worsen. The pressure of the inhabitants, with a substantial presence of undocumented Haitians, aggravates the damages and effects. In El Paraguas, where the waters emerge with magical gushing, the perverse deforestation and continuous logging can be perceived. It is necessary for the Ministry of the Environment to establish an AGRICULTURAL BORDER to limit damages. This situation began in ’78, when an Agrarian Reform settlement was carried out, which had gone out of the hands of the State. The abundance of water is related to the forest and both disappear with the unbridled destruction that persists there. Although it is true that the Ministry of the Environment is responsible, it has shown throughout its existence that it is incapable of putting things in order and even less, controlling the evil. It is too much for it… It is time for specific “operations” and it is time for concrete actions. The decision must come from the Central government, coordinating the work of various bodies and making a plan to stop the deterioration and start a scheduled rescue. The seriousness of this environmental chaos is minimized by the distance to the Capital, entertained and anesthetized by “other” issues and the little media interest that the subject represents. The uncontrolled water intake in the upper basin, disordered, chaotic, constitutes an ecological crime and can be seen in a simple tour of what little remains of the river, a caricature of what it was, destroyed by the proverbial Creole permissiveness. Pumps sucking from the riverbed itself, countless dams to “tackle” the water, wells and pipes in the river itself and its banks, all with and without permits from “authorities,” aggravated by the “power” of government officials and associates, which exacerbate the environmental chaos. The excessive slope of lands with a forestry vocation, converted to agricultural land, causes that land to slide due to the rains and the river can be seen carrying them all the time. Haitians, in their eternal underdevelopment, are skilled users of the unused Creole slingshot, annihilating birds in danger of extinction. I saw a pair of nesting parrots, a bird almost extinct in our territory, which succumbed to the foreign invader, who having “eaten” Haitian territory, proceed to do the same with ours. They defecate in the river itself, feces that the waters carry downstream, with devastating effects on human health. Modern transport systems, major works and improved highways are of no use if we do not take care of water and its production centres.