Rising water levels at Lake Enriquillo, Dominican Republic : advice on potential causes and pathways forward

Abstract

This short report summarizes the results of a five-day mission (September 26-30, 2011) by a fourperson, multidisciplinary, bilingual team to the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo and Lake Enriquillo). The mission was undertaken in response to a request from the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos (INDRHI), an agency of the Government of the Dominican Republic charged with wise use and preservation of water resources, to the Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A 2011 agreement links the two institutions and their respective UNESCO “category 2” centers, the Centre for the Sustainable Management of Water Resources in the Caribbean Island States (CEHICA) and the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM). The purpose of the mission was: to provide feedback to INDRHI with respect to the many hypotheses proposed to account for the rising surface elevation of Lake Enriquillo in the southwestern part of the country; and: to provide general advice concerning future pathways to prevent, adapt to, or mitigate this rise.