Are one million people really receiving feces-contaminated water?

By Timothy Williams, Editor

December 17^th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) On December 12^th, the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) made a stunning announcement: one million people in Costa Rica are receiving tap water contaminated with fecal matter.

AyA seemed to point the finger at community water systems, known as ASADAs, for the problem.  Some 82% of people living in rural areas of the country rely on these community water systems for their water supply.

While these community water systems no doubt have their share of problems – a September 2013 report by the Comptroller General’s office indicated that 370 community-operated water systems in the country were contaminated with microbiological and other elements in excess of allowed limits and that as many as 1,350 do not chlorinate their water – AyA’s stunning announcement begs the question: does AyA have an ulterior motive?

AyA has in the past used the issue of water quality as justification to take over these community water systems – in most cases gaining control of the water supplies on the cheap, as they have already been built and paid for by the communities which they serve.

And, when AyA takes over, most can expect higher water bills.  Many ASADAs actually provide water unmetered – residents pay a fixed monthly amount regardless of their consumption, in many cases as little as ¢4,000 per month.  When AyA takes over, they bring water meters with them.

In October, residents in Brasil de Mora, in Cuidad Colon, were up in arms after seeing their water bills increase by as much as 1,000% when AyA took over their ASADA.  Families who were previously spending ¢8,000 per month for their water began receiving water bills for as much as ¢60,000 after the takeover.

Worse still, AyA-operated water systems have had problems of their own.  As you read this, thousands of residents in Golfito are receiving arsenic-contaminated water well in excess of allowable limits – and they are receiving it from AyA.

Arsenic contamination has been an ongoing problem for AyA.  Communities such as Bagaces in Guanacaste have been receiving arsenic-contaminated water for years.  As a last resort, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Health had to intervene, distributing barrels filled with rusty nails to Bagaces residents in September 2013, which supposedly acted as arsenic filters, while waiting for AyA to address the problem. AyA only got serious about the problem after a ruling from the Constitutional Court, that only came about after Bagaces residents took to the streets in protest.

AyA, in Friday’s announcement, implied that in effect, anyone receiving water from a community ASADA is receiving feces-contaminated water.  However, no list of the communities affected was distributed.

Many communities take a sense of pride in their community water systems.  Local residents take care of repairing and maintaining the systems themselves, and trust their own neighbors who manage the systems (and consume the same water as they do) to provide clean, safe water.  While there is no doubt there are problems with some of these systems, and they could be improved, could AyA’s dire warning of a million people consuming feces-contaminated water be part of a larger goal of the State-run institution?

We will likely find out in 2015, when AyA says it plans to “address the problem.”