Dominican Republic Declares Water Emergency as Five-Month Drought Cuts Production by a Third

Friday, 4 September 2026

The Dominican Republic has activated a national contingency plan after more than five months of drought slashed drinking water production by 30 to 35 percent nationwide, forcing authorities to ration supply and truck emergency water to affected neighborhoods. The state water utility CAASD reported some of the sharpest declines at the Haina-Manoguayabo treatment plant, where output has fallen 68 percent, and at the Isabela plant, where daily production dropped from about 9 million to 3 million gallons. To cope, officials have set up a system to transfer water between aqueducts, moving supply from the Valdesia system into harder-hit zones, and have deployed at least 40 water tanker trucks for free distribution to residents cut off from regular service.

The Dominican crisis is unfolding as a broader drought and shifting rainfall pattern grips much of Latin America and the Caribbean this year, driven by an El Niño episode that forecasters say is bringing a mix of severe rainfall deficits to some areas and damaging floods to others between August and November. In El Salvador, four of the country's five hydroelectric reservoirs are sitting at lower levels than at this time last year, with the El Chaparral reservoir down 7.13 meters, raising concerns about both drinking water supply and electricity generation heading into the dry months.

Mexico is facing its own acute strain in Tijuana, where officials describe the worst drought conditions in roughly three decades after eighteen consecutive months of below-normal rainfall. The border city draws 96 percent of its water from the Colorado River, which crosses from the United States before reaching Mexican territory, leaving Tijuana's supply directly exposed to the river's well-documented decline and to allocation decisions made hundreds of miles upstream. Regional commentators have pointed to the city's near-total reliance on a single, already-stressed transboundary source as a structural vulnerability that predates this year's drought but has been sharply exposed by it.

Public health and infrastructure officials across the region are warning that the current El Niño pattern, while bringing drought to the Dominican Republic, Central America and parts of Mexico, is simultaneously fueling heavier rainfall and flood damage elsewhere in South America, complicating national responses that must address both extremes at once. In the Dominican Republic, CAASD officials say they expect production to remain constrained until seasonal rains meaningfully replenish reservoirs, with no firm timeline yet for when full service will resume in the hardest-hit aqueducts.