Funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), WMC is designing a package of engineering measures that can be used to manage sediment accumulating behind Valdesia and Aguacate dams on the Río Nizao.  Valdesia is a multipurpose reservoir.  It supplies 50% of the water consumed by the capital, Santo Domingo, generates hydropower with an installed capacity of 54 MW, and supplies water to a 14,000 ha irrigation district.  Aguacate dam has an installed capacity of 53 MW.  The operation of Valdesia and Aguacate is threatened by the significant accumulation of sediment behind each dam.  Their owner, the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos (INDRHI), wishes to control sedimentation in the reservoirs in order to prolong their useful lives.

The package being designed by WMC and local consulting engineers, Jorge y Mustonen C.A., includes rehabilitation of an existing suction dredge, conversion of a barge so that it can extract trees from the bed of the reservoir, supply of a clamshell dredge, conversion of a diversion tunnel into a sediment-flushing facility, rehabilitation of low level outlets and operation of radial gates on the dams.

The work is contributing to the preparation of a Watershed and Coastal Zone Management Project for funding by the IDB.