In Cap-Ha\u00eftien, a city of nearly 700,000 inhabitants according to the municipality\u2019s official website, access to safe drinking water is no longer a guarantee \u2014 it has become a public health risk. What was supposed to be a vast modernization program financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) \u2014 worth approximately US$125 million and targeting more than 250,000 households in the Greater North \u2014 is now paralyzed by administrative deadlock within Haiti\u2019s National Directorate for Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA), despite the apparent resumption of a few construction sites.
Cap-Ha\u00eftien has become a living model of institutional abandonment by DINEPA, the Ministry of Public Works, and the Ministry of Public Health.
Abandoned Construction Sites, Frozen Funds Across Cap-Ha\u00eftien, several firms contracted under the project have been forced to suspend their operations: drilling works interrupted, pipe installation abandoned, concrete structures left unfinished, and asphalt paving halted. According to our information, DINEPA failed to pay its contractors and did not submit the financial reports required by the IDB to unlock disbursements. As a result, funding has been frozen. \u201cThe IDB is waiting for clear documentation, but DINEPA cannot even produce coherent financial reports. We are talking about tens of millions of dollars sitting idle while the population consumes contaminated water. This is a management collapse,\u201d \u2014 a DINEPA technical executive told us on condition of anonymity. When the Streets Become Channels of Contamination Cap-Ha\u00eftien\u2019s unsanitary conditions go far beyond visible garbage. Pollution flows through streets, ravines, wells, and household cisterns. \u201cWhen it rains in Cap-Ha\u00eftien, the streets turn into open sewage canals. Drains overflow, waste floats everywhere, and that same water ends up in people\u2019s wells and cisterns. Water from latrines and pit toilets rises back to the surface,\u201d a city resident testified. Water Becomes a Luxury: Buckets, Gallons, and Soaring Prices With no reliable public network, households depend on purchased water transported by vendors.<\/p>\n\n \u201cA bucket of water can cost between 25 and 50 gourdes depending on the neighborhood. A gallon of treated water sometimes exceeds 150 gourdes \u2014 and even then, there is no guarantee it is truly potable,\u201d said a water vendor in Haut-du-Cap. <\/p>\n\n Access to water has thus become a heavy financial burden for the most vulnerable households. Justinien Hospital: Infections on the Rise At Justinien Hospital, healthcare workers report a worrying increase in illnesses linked to unsafe water. \u201cWe regularly receive patients with vaginal infections, chronic diarrhea, skin irritations, and unexplained fevers. Many people use the same water for drinking, bathing, and cooking. The contamination is clearly reflected in medical records,\u201d an emergency nurse explained. These cases place additional strain on an already fragile hospital system. Viruses and Bacteria Weakening the Population Specialists confirm the frequent presence of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in contaminated water supplies: Endolimax nana, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae, as well as Rotavirus, which is particularly dangerous for children. \u201cI contracted Endolimax nana after a stay in Cap-Ha\u00eftien,\u201d a professional disclosed. A City Structurally Unprepared for Wastewater Management Beyond daily mismanagement, the problem is deeply structural. \u201cCap-Ha\u00eftien was urbanized without a real sanitation plan. Houses were built without drainage networks, latrines are often located near wells, and septic tanks directly infiltrate the groundwater. As long as the city\u2019s structural design is not rethought, any drinking water production will remain vulnerable,\u201d said an independent hydraulic engineer and consultant. DINEPA Directly Under Fire Institutional responsibility is increasingly being challenged by professionals in the sector. \u201cDINEPA can no longer hide behind technical rhetoric. It received funding, signed contracts, and had clear transparency obligations. Today, it is incapable of justifying expenditures, incapable of paying contractors, and incapable of protecting the population. This is an administrative abdication that is putting lives at risk,\u201d said a public governance expert. When Inefficiency Becomes a Public Danger Every day of inaction exposes hundreds of thousands of citizens to preventable risks. Contaminated water fuels disease, increases healthcare costs, weakens families, and erodes trust in the state. Every day of inaction exposes hundreds of thousands of citizens to preventable risks. Contaminated water fuels disease, increases healthcare costs, weakens families, and erodes trust in the state. Brigitte Benshow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When it rains in Cap-Ha\u00eftien, the streets turn into open sewage canals. Drains overflow, waste floats everywhere, and that same water ends up in people\u2019s wells and cisterns. Water from latrines and pit toilets rises back to the surface<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3240,3242,3210],"tags":[3550,3549,3548],"class_list":["post-27746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-the-509-editorial","category-top-story","tag-bid","tag-dinepa","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lequotidien509.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img_7635.webp?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27748,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27746\/revisions\/27748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lequotidien509.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}