ARTIBONITE RIVER

French Rivire De L'artibonite, Spanish Ro Artibonito, river, the longest on the island of Hispaniola. It rises in the Cordillera Central (Ciboa Mountains) of the Dominican Republic and flows southwest along the border with Haiti and then west and northwest into Haiti and through the fertile Artibonite Plain to enter the Gulf of Gonaves after a course of 150 miles (240 km). It is navigable upstream for about 100 miles (160 km) by small craft. Large tracts of irrigated land were developed as part of the Artibonite Valley Agricultural Project. The focus of the project was the Pligre Dam, which was initiated in 1930 as a flood-control project; its completion in 1956 resulted in the creation of a large reservoir (Pligre Lake). Soil erosion, induced by forest denudation in the Artibonite valley, has resulted in severe siltation of the reservoir and has greatly reduced its agricultural and energy potential. The Pligre hydroelectric operation, completed in 1971, supplies much of Haiti's electricity.