Rivière Haut du Cap (Mapou), Cap Haitien

In August 2019 I was part of a biological assessment team that surveyed the Haut du Cap River in Cap Haitian, Haiti’s second largest city. Don and I surveyed the aquatic environment of the river, surrounding wetlands, and tributaries, with a botanist and two ornithologists. The river empties into the bay in Cap Haitian where it historically was an estuary. However, people have cut down the mangroves in and along the estuary and have moved in. Every year their homes flood. The area is full of trash and fecal bacteria. People say they don’t see the quantity and sizes of fish they used to see here. Protecting the river and its mangroves would have protected the city from flooding and provided more fish for food. We hope that this survey can increase awareness of the importance of protecting natural areas in Haiti.

The old colonial bridge over the Haut du Cap.

Houses along the river.

Walkway to the boat taxi.

Well Survey – Bohoc Haiti

Protected Lejene well.

On 17 Jan. 2017 I performed a brief survey of 4 pump wells in the Bohoc area (8 miles east of Pignon), three along National Route 3 and one in the village of Caiman.  I collected water samples to measure nitrate with a LaMotte® Water TesTab® Kit which measures nitrate-NO₃ in discrete categories (0, 5, 20, 40 mg/l) determined by color change.  I used 3M petrifilm to determine presence of fecal coliform (blue colonies are E. coli, red colonies with gas are other coliform).  Coordinates were taken with a handheld GPS.

Two of the wells were in protected blue and white buildings that are kept locked and managed by a well committee.  At both wells people drink the water without treating it, and also use it for washing and cooking.  One committee said they treat the well once a month with chlorine, and that people must take off their shoes before entering the building.  People at the Caiman well said they do not drink the water, but use it for cooking and washing.  At a second unprotected well, someone said that some people drink the well water but shouldn’t. 

Caiman well.

Surprisingly none of the wells showed E. coli, nor even other types of coliform, indicating that here is no contamination from fecal material.  Of concern is nitrate levels.  High nitrate in drinking water can cause methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) in babies less than 6 months old as the nitrate depletes oxygen in the blood.  The USEPA maximum standard for nitrate-N in drinking water is 10 mg/l.  The WHO maximum standard for nitrate-NO₃ in drinking water is 50 mg/l (or 11.3 mg/l nitrate-N).  Nitrate-NO₃ values were multiplied by 0.2259 to convert to nitrate-N.  The two protected wells were below the nitrate limits, however the two unprotected wells had at least 9.04 mg/l nitrate-N (40 mg/l nitrate NO₃), the maximum value that the LaMotte kit can report.  Therefore water from the two unprotected wells should not be given to babies < 6 months old until further tests can determine actual nitrate levels.

The results of this study were shared with the well committee and users, with cautions to those at the unprotected wells to avoid giving this water to babies.

Eco-201 Bioassesment of Bassin Zim

On 16 January 2016 I took the Université Chrétienne de la Communauté de Caïman 1^st year agronomy students in my ecology 201 class to Bassin Zim near Hinche to evaluate the water quality.  We used Lamotte water chemistry kits purchased from Carolina Biological Supply and E. coli kits purchased from Bob Metcalf who developed a portable microbiologylab (PML) to use in areas that have no electricity for incubating bacteria cultures.  The chemistry tests do not give a precise number, but are meant for use in environmental education to detect the difference between water quality extremes.  The PML does reveal if there is E.coli in the water, which means there’s fecal contamination and possibly other bacteria and viruses spread through human feces. 

We practiced all the methods in class, then at Bassin Zim used the kits to compare a stream coming from a cave about midway up the falls to the river below the falls.  We also looked at land and water use, and quality of the riparian vegetation.  The upstream site to the right of the falls is surrounded by large dense trees, perhaps reminiscent of what Haiti used to look like.  The hillside to the left and next to the river below the falls looks to be deforested, with scrubby growth that has replaced the original forest.  Our hypothesis was that the upstream site would have better water quality than the downstream site, since I assumed human activity appears to be less above the falls then at the base of the falls where people picnic, wash clothes, swim, and bring livestock.

Both sites had approximately the same chemistry, but we found E. coli in the upstream site.  Perhaps this is from the bats that roost in the cave above the site?  Unfortunately at the upstream site, a goat and chickens were drinking from the stream, and since I had visited in Nov. 2014 a tilapia pond had been installed between the stream and the falls!  There was also charcoal production right next to the forest.  That set off a lecture about needing to protect the remaining pristine places of Haiti.  I can only hope that my students will look at rivers in a new way and notice how human activities impact them, and perhaps start to make changes to restore Haiti’s natural resources.

Cave above the upstream sampling site.

Charcoal production.

The stream to the left, and unfortunate tilapia pond to the right.

Scrubby vegetation to the left, lush forest to the right.

Women washing clothes downstream of the falls.

Examination of Riviere Lislet Les Cayes Haiti

The short study of Riviere Glace was followed by a brief examination of Riviere Lislet that runs south along the eastern edge of Les Cayes before ending at the ocean.  We sampled where Rue Simon crosses the river, and arrived before the area was too busy with people washing themselves, laundry, and motos.  The water was warmer and siltier than Riviere Glace, but we found a lot of the native mosquito fish (Gambusia) and small tilapia (non-native fish).  The young men there were very eager to help us find fish and macroinvertebrates.

Sample date 24 March 2015 7:30am

Temperature = 26.27C                   pH = 8.04             turbidity = 0 NTU

Dissolved oxygen = 6.85 mg/l     oxygen reduction potential = 89 mV

Conductivity = 0.387 mS/cm    salinity = 0.02%                 total dissolved solids = 0.252 g/l

E. coli bacteria 3 colonies in 1 ml water (see the test kit here)

Water quality measurements were taken upstream of Rue Simon crossing.

Looking upstream.

  

Native mosquito fish Gambusia

Freshwater shrimp

Analyse-diagnostic des versants qui surplombent l’étang Laborde

In 2007 Louis-Jean Enold performed a study of the watershed of Etang Laborde, a lake 10 miles north of Les Cayes, Haiti.  This report has excellent information about the life of the people and flora and fauna of the watershed.  Click to download the pdf.

Analyse-diagnostic des versants qui surplombent l’étang Laborde

Resume
Cette étude se porte sur les versants qui surplombent l’étang Laborde, l’une des zones humides les plus importantes de la commune des Cayes. Elle se donne pour objectif de diagnostiquer ces versants et de proposer des alternatives d’exploitation plus appropriées conduisant à une gestion durable des ressources du milieu. Ainsi, une approche historique et une approche systémique ont été utilisées. Nous avons mené des enquêtes préliminaires sur une population de soixante-dix (70) exploitants agricoles répartis dans sept localités de la zone d’étude. De ces derniers, un échantillon plus restreinte de trente-deux (32) exploitants, choisis au hasard, , a été retenu pour des enquêtes approfondies. Les résultats montrent que les risques d’érosion sont élevés pour environ 66% et grave pour près de 5% des terres du bassin versant qui couvre 711.27 ha. Ainsi, seulement 1.40% soit 9.96 ha a de très bonnes potentialités. Quant à la couverture forestière, elle est très réduite. Nous avons pu en distinguer une couverture dense (16.36%), une couverture éparse (11.97%) et une couverture déboisée qui occupe la plus grande partie du bassin versant soit (71.97%). Des 54.17 ha exploités par nos enquêtés 70.06% sont en FVD 29.74% en FVI. La surface totale par exploitation varie de 0.33 à 3.73 ha avec une moyenne de 1.71 ha.

A visit to Etang Laborde

In December 2013 I had visited Etang Laborde for the Les Cayes Christmas Bird Count.  This month I had the opportunity to return to the lake when my guest, aquatic ecologist Dr. Donald Huggins, wanted to visit it for a possible bioassessment study.  In May 2013 we had done a base-line bioassessment of nearby Etang Lachaux, which continued to recede in the 2013 drought.  Now we needed to see a lake that still had water, fish, and birds.  The residents along the lake were very kind to us, telling us about the history of the lake levels and giant fish and crayfish they had seen.  Our botanist friend Dr. Craig Freeman identified the aquatic plants from photos we had taken (see next post).  The large flocks of ducks I saw during the Christmas count had moved on, but still we saw over 19 species of birds.

People use these springs for drinking water.  They are about 15 m from the lake shore. 

Drawing by a man who said he saw a fish almost 1 m long.

2nd Aquatic Ecology Workshop in Camp Perrin

Thank you to Jean Dunes Gustave, Ministry of the Environment for the South, for inviting the University of Kansas (KU) to hold a second aquatic ecology workshop at his office building in Camp Perrin.  This 2ème Les Principes Écologie Aquatique focused on the results of our May 2013 study of Etang Lachaux, a lake along National Route 7 south between Les Cayes and Camp Perrin.  See these past blogs for the lake study and the 1^st workshop in May 2013.  The 29 participants represented 13 organizations and including people who owned land around the lake.  Presenters were Dr. Donald Huggins from the Kansas Biological Survey (KBS) at KU and Debbie Baker from KBS and Audubon Center of Les Cayes.

We discussed the results of the water chemistry of the lake, and gave recommendations for increasing water volume so that the lake can be used for a fishery.  Participants said that 1975 was the last time the lake completely dried up.  We suggested that lake managers do not stock this shallow lake with carp which are bottom feeders and stir up the lake sediment.

Etang Lachaux Lake Study

North end of lake.  A good birding spot!

“This was perhaps the best single locality I found below 1,000 ft. for ground collecting.” said PJ Darlington Jr in 1934 of the lake Etang Lachaux, back when the population of Haiti was 2,550,000 (250 per square mile).  PJ Darlington was there to collect ground beetles (see Psyche Dec. 1935, Vol. XLII, No. 4, West Indian Carabidae II: Itineraryof 1934).  When my team from the University of Kansas and I were there this month to collect water quality data, Haiti’s population stood around 10 million, or 930 people per square mile.  And the land around this lake was cropped, even on the rocky hillsides.  One hillside was rocky with a new highway perched along the edge.  

Sampling locations and path walked around lake.

Etang Lachaux is near Camp Perrin on the southern peninsula, near Les Cayes.  My team did a baseline study there on 4 May 2013 to collect basic water quality data and to map the lake.  There are several springs with almost quicksand like substrate along
the north shore of the lake, which our 14 year-old tag-along Bobby helped us to navigate.  The Minister of the Environment said the lakevolume decreases every year during the dry season (which is supposed to end in May), but 2013 and 2012 have been unusually low, which doesn’t bode well for the carp and tilapia he stocked.  A full report is forth coming.  Email me (Debbie Baker, debbieauc at gmail.com) if you would like more information.  Please post comments if you know anything about this lake!

Sampling a spring at the northeast corner of the lake.

South end of the lake.  Farmers plant crops to the edge hoping they will get a crop before the rainy season.

New highway overlooking the eastern edge of the lake.

Water quality workshop in Camp Perrin

Dr. Huggins demonstrating the secchi disk.

A recent outreach event of the Audubon Center was coordinating a water quality workshop presented by environmental scientists from the University of Kansas.  The Ministry of the Environment for the South Department hosted the event at their office in Camp Perrin.  Twenty workers from the Ministry, ORE, and other groups attended the workshop.  Using the local lake Etang Lachaux watershed as an example, Dr. Donald Huggins, Dr. Gary Welker, and Debbie Baker discussed with the group the various human activities that impact the watershed and how to mitigate these.  They donated a secchi disk to the bureau, a simple water quality measurement device that people can make themselves.  We ended the day with a tour of
the NGO Organization for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (ORE).