Haiti – Dominican Republic - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

interventions if well designed do work for all but thelargest events but do require regular maintenanceand rebuilding/excavating after each flood.In the above cases, the recommended flood riskmitigation strategy is a balanced combinationof investments in mitigation, retreat, which wouldmean the abandonment of the most vulnerableareas, and the reconstruction of infrastructure awayfrom the flood risk.6.4 Water scarcity, accessand pollutionWater scarcity refers to an absence of sufficientamounts of water in the environment, while wateraccess refers to the availability of suitable waterfor the use of the population. It is, in other words,possible to have abundant water in the environmentbut insufficient access, particularly in respectto clean drinking water.Case study 5. Water insecurity in two Haitian watershedsHousehold surveys in the Massacre watershed in the north and the Pedernales watershed in the south of the borderzone give a good indication of the situation in respect to water shortage. About four in ten people in both watershedshave suffered from a lack of water availability for either drinking or bathing/cooking over the past 12 months. However,while this level is consistent across the Massacre sub-watersheds, there is dramatic divergence within Pedernales.In the Pedernales watershed, the mountainous areas are significantly more exposed to water insecurity, with 75 percent of the respondents answering that they have had insufficient water availability, than the two other eco-zones,where only 20-30% of households reported suffering from water shortages.As can be seen in Figure 6, the lack of water directly corresponds to the dry season, from December to April. Peopleinterviewed in the Pedernales watershed are significantly more likely to report insufficient water access from January toMarch than in Massacre, suggesting a stronger impact from the climate variability and the dry season in the Southeast.Figure 6. Seasonality of water insecurityMonths with insufficient wateracross watershedsTotal (n=98)Massacre(n=70)Pedernales(n=28)54%33%24%Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecThe number and variety of sources of drinking water also diverges across the watersheds on the Haitian side of theborder. The prevalence and accessibility of public taps or tube wells in most Massacre communities might explain thehigher proportion of respondents drinking ground water in the Northeast. When tap stands are not available or toofar away from households, families obtain their water from rivers, even though they generally understand the higherrisk of contamination.In contrast, the proximity and apparent higher quality of the surface water in the Southeast leads to higher surface waterconsumption in the Pedernales watershed. The technical director of the MPP in Pedernales noted that the source ofthe river is in the Dominican Republic, where deforestation is limited, and perhaps that is why the quality of water wassignificantly better than in the Northeast. Bottled water does not appear to be a viable alternative in either watershed.74 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone