Haiti

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Categories: Country | Haiti | Artibonite | Massacre | Pedernales

Haiti is part of:
Caribbean · Latin America and Caribbean ·
Water Basins of Haiti:
Artibonite · Massacre · Pedernales ·

Facts & Figures

edit

Capital

Port-au-Prince

Neighbouring Countries

Dominican Republic

Total Area

27,750 km²

- Water

190 km² (0.68%) / 68 m²/ha

- Land

27,560 km²

Coastline

1,771 km

Population

8,527,777 (307 inhab./km²)

HDI^A

0.714 (2007)

Gini Coefficient^A

59.2 (1995)

Nominal GDP^B

$6,966 million

GDP (PPP) Per Capita^B

$1,400

National UN Presence

FAO, UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, WB, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, IFAD

Land Use^C

- Cultivated Land

10,925 km² (39.64%)

- Arable

7,747 km² (28.11%)

- Permanent Crops

3,178 km² (11.53%)

- Irrigated

920 km²

- Non cultivated

17,640 km² (60.36%)

Average Annual Rainfall^D

1440 mm

Renewable Water Resources^E

14 km³

Water Withdrawals^F	0.99 km³/yr
- For Agricultural Use	94%
- For Domestic Use	5%
- For Industrial Use	1%
- Per Capita	125 m³

Population with safe access to
- Improved Water Source	54%
- Urban population	52%
- Rural population	56%
- Improved Sanitation	30%
- Urban population	57%
- Rural population	14%

References & Remarks

^A UNDP Human Development Report

^B CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia

^C CIA World Factbook Country Profiles

^D Aquastat - FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture

^E CIA World Factbook

^F Earthtrends

Latest 4 maps for / including Haiti (more..):

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1 News
2 Country Profile: Climate, Geography, Socio-Economic Context
3 Country Profile: Water Bodies and Resources
4 Country Profile: Legal and Institutional Environment
5 Country Profile: Water Sector Coordination
6 Country Profile: Trends in Water Use, Management and Sanitation
7 Country Profile: Challenges and Opportunities
8 Articles
9 Projects and Case Studies
10 Publications
11 Who is Who
12 References
13 See also
14 External Resources

News

Country Profile: Climate, Geography, Socio-Economic Context

Country Profile: Water Bodies and Resources

Rainfall, ground water, and the Artibonite River contribute to Haiti’s freshwater resources. The country has 12 cubic kilometers of internal renewable water resources and 0.9 cubic kilometers of external renewable water resources. Water resources are unevenly distributed, with the southwest part of the country possessing freshwater supply four times as high as the southeast. Rainfall in Haiti is unevenly distributed. Some regions receive up to 3,600 millimeters annually, while others receive only 400 millimeters.

Étang Saumâtre is the largest natural lake in Haiti, covering 181 square kilometers. The lake is surrounded by an inland marsh. Additional ponds and sinkholes can be found in limestone terrain. The Lac de Péligre is a man-made reservoir on the Rivière de l’Artibonite, covering 30 square kilometers. Mangrove swamps are located along the coast. The most extensive mangrove swamp is located south of Gonaïves and is 32 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide.

Only about 7.5% of renewable water resources are utilized in Haiti. The availability of groundwater is variable. Groundwater is plentiful in the plains and valleys, but varies from plentiful to scarce in mountainous areas. Underground water is often polluted due to the absence of sanitary sewers in Haiti.

Country Profile: Legal and Institutional Environment

Legal Framework

Article 36 of the 1987 Constitution provides that water resources are the domain of the state; the right to property does not extend to any springs, rivers, or water courses. The Government of Haiti enacted a new framework governing water resources in 2009; the framework has yet to be implemented and its terms are unknown.

The Rural Code (1962) addresses irrigation and drainage in rural areas. As a practical matter, water resources in rural areas are governed by water committees and customary law.

Institutional Framework

Institutions involved in water management in Haiti are: the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications', which is responsible for drinking water and sanitation; the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, which is responsible for irrigation and drainage; and the Directorate of Natural Resources, which administers public irrigation systems.

Haiti has two state-owned water sector enterprises under the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation, and Communications: Centrale Autonome Métropolitaine d’Eau Potable (CAMEP), responsible for the capital city, and Service National d’Eau Potable (SNEP), responsible for secondary cities and for rural areas.

There are hundreds of water committees, called Comités d’Aprovisionnement en Eau Potable (CAEPs) or, more recently, Comité d’Approvisionnement en Eau Potable et Assainissement (CAEPA), which indicates the additional responsibilities for sanitation. The committees are responsible for managing water supplies in rural areas and small towns. The committees are not federated and the nature and quality of their service varies.

Government Reforms, Interventions and Investments

Under the new Framework Law passed in January 2009, a General Directorate for Water and Sanitation will be established within the Ministry of Public Works. Four regional water and sanitation authorities are planned to replace the state water companies, SNEP and CAMEP.

Country Profile: Water Sector Coordination

See Sector coordination sub-page for detailed description

Country Profile: Trends in Water Use, Management and Sanitation

Water has been a poorly managed resource in urban and peri-urban areas. In Port-au-Prince, private arrangements with public officials have allowed three-quarters of the water distributed by the city to go to less than a quarter of the population. Because of the absence of effective water management, Haitian citizens access water where they can. They often attempt to illegally drill into ground water supplies, and then sell that water to those who need it.

Country Profile: Challenges and Opportunities

Erosion has caused the volume of water flowing from 18 springs which serve the Haitian capital to drop by 50% since 1993. Haiti’s water supply is stressed by the uneven distribution of rainfall and population density. Access to water and sanitation facilities is limited. Approximately 49% of urban dwellers had access to improved water sources prior to the 2010 earthquake. The earthquake destroyed many of the delivery systems for water and sanitation in Port-au-Prince, leaving survivors with little access to either. Approximately 45% of rural dwellers have access to improved water sources.

Donor Interventions and Investments

For fiscal year 2007, the World Bank approved an IDA loan of $5 million for a rural water and sanitation project. An additional grant of $5 million was approved in 2009..

In 1986, with the financial support of USAID, a pilot integrated watershed management project was conducted to build dams and plant trees for soil conservation.