La Zurza: the Largest Water Treatment Plant in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo.- On April 12, President Danilo Medina inaugurated the works of the Ozama River Wastewater Treatment Plant, Mirador Norte-La Zurza. This project will benefit more than 450,000 residents of the sectors located in the northern zone of the National District and sectors of the Santo Domingo Norte municipality. With an investment of 55 million euros, through financing from Deutsche Bank, it is expected to start operating in 24 months. The waters that 54 industries dump into the Isabela River will also be treated.

According to the person in charge of the Engineering Department of the CAASD Executing Unit, Luis Báez, this plant will treat 1.2 cubic meters per second of wastewater from sectors such as Cristo Rey, La Zurza, April 24, Simón Bolívar, Ensanche La Fe, Villa Juana, Villa Agrícolas, Villa Consuelo, Los Guarícanos, Sabana Perdida and Villa Mella. Báez explained that there are 12 other wastewater treatment systems under study.

The sanitation of some 80 streams and the construction of 13 wastewater treatment systems in Greater Santo Domingo are part of the project to rescue the Ozama and Isabela rivers, the Sewerage Master Plan, which is carried out by the Corporación del Aqueducto y Alcantarillado de Santo Domingo (CAASD). The treatment plants will function as wetlands, through artificial lagoons with floating plants that will absorb the waste from the sewage, to ensure that it reaches the river clean and does not pollute it.

The geologist and environmentalist Osiris de León said that the lack of sanitary sewers and treatment plants is what has most degraded the quality of surface and groundwater. At the same time, this is the cause of gastrointestinal disease epidemics, as hydrotransmittable fecal bacteria such as Echerichia coli, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Salmonella and Vibrio colerae proliferate.

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