|
|
 |
 |
HOME
Where it all begins!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
|
COSTA RICA NEWS
|
Sunday 12
December 2010 |
 |
|
|
|
Beach
Water
Quality
Excellent
Fijatevos.com
Time was
when rip
currents
were not
the only
hazard
in
swimming
or
surfing
at Costa
Rican
beaches.
Sea
water
contamination
three
decades
ago
meant
that
inadvertently
gulping
water or
having
an open
cut
could be
hazardous
to one's
health.
But a
recent
study of
100
beaches,
(most of
them on
popular
tourist
locations
on the
Pacific
coast)
by the
National
Water
Laboratory
showed
92 of
them to
have
excellent
water
quality.
This
happy
situation
is in
great
part due
to the
government's
blue
flag
program,
initiated
when
tourism
climbed
to be a
top
foreign
exchange
earner,
accompanied
by an
explosion
of
resort
construction,
especially
on the
northern
Pacific
coast.
A beach
losing
its blue
flag
rating
was a
definite
economic
blow to
tourism
businesses
and
businessmen
in beach
communities
soon
leaned
on
developers
and
local
residents
to clean
up their
acts. At
least
one
local
beach
community
mustered
its own
residents
into the
fight,
reports
Costa
Rica's
leading
Spanish-language
paper,
La
Nacion.
At
Corozalito
beach
near the
Nicoya
Peninsula
community
of
Nandayure,
concerned
neighbors
banded
together
eight
years
ago to
clean up
their
beach,
which
was not
only an
environmental
hazard
but also
one of
those
valuable
egg-laying
and
hatching
sites
for
endangered
sea
turtles.
So they
formed
an
association
(Asoveco)
and,
with the
guidence
of
international
ecology
prize
winner
Randall
Arauz
and his
Pretoma
organization,
got to
work
cleaning
up. They
even
enlisted
the aid
of
foreign
tourists
staying
at
hotels
and
tourist
cabins
in the
area to
help
protect
the eggs
and
hatchling
turtles.
Today,
not only
is the
water
sea
water
clean
but as
many as
150
turtles
visit
the
sands
during a
single
night
during
egg-laying
season.
Asoveco
has even
made
sure
that no
lights
can be
seen on
the
beach
because
that
disorients
the
turtles.
In fact,
there
are few
buildings
near the
beach,
which
aided in
preventing
sewage
contamination,
still a
major
villain
in
non-blue
flag
areas,
This is
now
absent
at
Corozalito.
But
residents
still
cannot
rest on
their
laurels--they
are
watching
construction
of a
hotel
whose
developers
are
accused
of
cutting
a
mangrove
wetland
at the
beach.
Now, the
bad news
about
the
water
study:
Untested
are 300
more
beaches
around
the
coastline
that are
classed
by the
Costa
Rican
Tourism
Institute
(ICE) as
being
"of
tourism
interest."
The work
is cut
out for
the
Water
Lab, a
dependency
of the
National
water
and
Sewer (A
y A)
agency...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Insidecostarica is an independent news media
portal featuring news of Costa Rica, Central
America, Latin America and other wonderful
and weir stuff. External links are
provided for reference purposes.
Insidecostarica.com is not responsible for
the content of the external sites.
If you need more information or to provide
recommendations, write to
[email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
Join
our Facebook page