On March 12, a special initiative was launched by Deputy Cicilia and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, marking the start of an important project in collaboration with the Directorate General of Rijkswaterstaat. This project involves installing monitoring wells to gather data on groundwater. This will take about three months and is important to better understand how the underground water moves on Bonaire.
The pipes, called monitoring wells, will be installed in Kralendijk, but also in other areas. These wells will allow us to see how much water there is underground and how clean it is. We will also study the water in the sea, how rainwater runs off, and if there are any substances in the underground water that runs off into the sea which could harm the beautiful corals. This is important to know to take good care of our island and the sea around it. It’s also important to closely monitor how rainwater drains. This helps us to better care for our water and to improve agriculture.
We are doing this project in cooperation with several organizations and will start in the southern part of the island. It will take about three months to install all the monitoring wells. These wells will stay in the ground for a few years, and we will check them every year. We will check if there are harmful substances in the groundwater that are not good for the coral and/or our agricultural land.
Deputy Cicilia emphasizes the importance of this project: ‘By installing these monitoring wells, we receive valuable information about our groundwater. It’s important that our water is clean. This is a significant step towards protecting the beautiful nature of Bonaire and our precious water and coral for future generations.’
