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Water bill

Last activity 06 September 2021 by planner

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Mkunz6580

We have a house between Sosua and Cabarete. We have our own well (two actually) but every month the water company in Sosua drops off a bill. Obviously we do not have a meter and we receive a bill regardless if the house is occupied or not. Does anyone else run into this nonsense in other parts of the country ?

planner

This is absolutely normal.  You pay the bill whether you use the water or have a meter.  Normally it's a monthly flat fee. If there is a debt they are fairly easy to negotiate and settle.  In most cases it is very little money.

Vitaliy Bobkov

@planner, but they have their own well and sounds like shouldn’t even have an account with local water Company. So what are they being charged for?

UncleBuck

From what I understand, the Government owns all the water on the island, if you access it, even through a well, you are charged for that privilege.  I believe it was a post on here, someone had the same thing happen, Coropplata came and broke up their pipes, repeatedly, until an account was established and made current.  If I recall, is was very inexpensive.  Your tolerance for trouble vs your willingness to pay a small fee is what it comes down to.

planner

Exactly - you get billed regardless!!! Govt owns the water.  You can fight it but your won't win. Just pay it.

Destiny1985

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I bought a house in sosua looking for someone to dig a well for me, they referred me to someone but it requested me to tear down the outside wall to get in with his truck because his truck is too tall to go through the gate. Is there someone in DR that has a portable digging tool

Mkunz6580

It's more of principle than the money although it shows a 69,000 peso balance from the previous property owner. I did some more checking and you are correct, when you buy property the water is not included but no one tells you this. What a scam !

Guest2022

In the DR the management of water and sewage resources is highly fragmented.

There is no regulatory body for the economic aspects of the sector. The absence of a national strategy for the water and sanitation sector is considered a limitation to its development. Without a well-defined strategy, there is a lack of direction and an apparent separation of the functions of the different active sector units. This creates an overlap of responsibilities and sometimes conflicting activities.

In the larger cities, water and sanitation services are provided by regional companies, while in other cities and towns, by the National Institute of Potable Water and Sewerage (INAPA). In rural areas, community water boards also provide these services
.

People in places such as Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo and Santiago will be dealing with their local water companies. When you get to rural DR if it exists it is community based.

Many communities in rural DR dont have piped supply. It is the most pressing area needing national development imo. And Abinader is planning just that.

I live in a village where there are a few working community hand pump wells. A few people like me have their own wells on their property. Others source water from rivers.

The last town I lived within in the country had its own storage tank at a spring in the hills and water was supplied a few hours a day to the community. The municipal council managed that supply and rationed that water. They started building a bigger supply at the time I left.

Water is life and without it life is hard.

To answer a question raised above, I have never seen a small trailer towed drill rig in DR. Always big truck units and that is what is available on the north coast is my understanding having arranged the drilling of wells there.

As another thread, be aware your well water in coastal zones may have high salinity as aquifers are getting depleted drawing in sea water. The East Coast had a major problem now apparently with this.

planner

When you bought the property your lawyer should have made sure all bills were cleared. I would start there!

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