Dominican Republic´s main river languishes under trash

Santiago.- DominicanRepublic´s most important and longest river Yaque del Norte agonizes from the thousandsof tons of industrial waste, chemicals and butcher scraps dumped on its banks inSantiago daily, while authorities fail to protect waters, the main source forthe fertile Cibao region.

Representatives fromvarious sectors have complained about the pollution devastating the "SleepyYaque" in recent days, and called on the mayor and the Environment Ministryto put a stop to the situation they affirm has been the result of neglect.

Rafael Collado, head ofLa Herradura neighborhood board, called on president Danilo Medina to make oneof his famous "surprise visits” to the polluters of the Yaque river.

Quoted by acento.com.do, Collado also asked Medina totour the area around the river "and verify to which degree the water sourcehas been abandoned."

Moreover, Nelson Lovera,another community leader and spokesman for the Dominican Students Federation(FED) based in Santiago´s UASD University campus accused local authorities offailing to propose any plan to recover the Yaque.

In that regard, ISAUniversity director Benito Ferreira called on all of Santiago´s institutionsjoin to join the effort to carry out the cleanup of the Yaque, whose 196 kilometers-longcourse spans the Central Mountains to Montecristi (northwest).