SANTO DOMINGO.-An alert about pollution at Boca Chica beach was issued yesterday due to signs that the most visited marine attraction by the capital's residents is full of fecal matter and other toxic substances.
Gilberto Reynoso, executive director of the Water Sector Cabinet, revealed that the United States Environmental Protection Agency analyzed that every bather who goes to that beach "comes into contact with at least two kilos of fecal matter.".
“In Boca Chica, there is a serious sanitation problem with fecal matter and the Escherichia coli bacteria,” the official said.
The coastal marine areas have also become “sewers,” the official stated at a meeting convened by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), where the minister of the entity, Miguel Ceara Hatton, explained the need for and commitment required from all of society to prioritize solving the problem of water demand.
"You might take a child to bathe in Boca Chica and within 24 hours they will have a fever, because it is highly contaminated, full of fecal bacteria.".
Reynoso said that different rivers such as the Soco and Higuamo (San Pedro de Macorís) push their wastewater to a natural lagoon called Boca Chica, contaminating its waters.
“That sewage, that wastewater, that arrives at Boca Chica gets stuck in that lagoon, swirling around. Boca Chica is like a backwater, because it has an oxygen barrier that reduces the movement of the water. So, that sewage, that wastewater, arrives loaded with fecal matter from all those provinces over there.”.
He urged the approval of investment plans for the water sector, in order to build the necessary treatment plants to mitigate water pollution.
He added: “Today, you go to Boca Chica and you feel the ground, the slimy sand, and it is basically a decomposition of the ground (…) Boca Chica constitutes a danger to the health of children.”.
The specialist warned that if the pollution, which has impacted the oxygen level of the waters, is not stopped, the coral reef where vegetation has grown - known as La Matica - could disappear.
Sources: Diario Libre and Listín Diario
