Seminar
On Water
Resources Takes Place In
Guanacaste
(Infocom) — One of the
issues of higher concern
in the province of
Guanacaste is the
availability of water
resources. Because of
this, as part of the
Guanacaste Marketplace
tourism fair, the Costa
Rican Tourism
Professionals
Association (ACOPROT)
organized a seminar
entitled “The problem of
water resources in the
North Pacific Region,
whose goal was to
analyze this topic and
seek possible solutions.
“The issue of water is
very important for Costa
Rica and even more for
Guanacaste. At ACOPROT
we are concerned about
the topic and that’s why
we wanted to get experts
together to discuss the
topic, because the old
slogan that water is an
non-exhaustible resource
is not true; it’s
renewable, but only if
it’s well managed,” said
Carlos Lizama, president
of ACOPROT.
At the activity, which
took place Nov. 5 at
Hotel El Sitio in
Liberia, there were
representatives from the
Costa Rican Water and
Sewer Institute (AyA),
the Ministry of the
Environment, Energy and
Telecommunications (MINAET),
the Ministry of Planning
(MIDEPLAN), and
companies invested in
this topic, such as
Amanco and WSI Latin
America.
The seminar also focused
on actions proposed in
the Guanacaste
Development Plan, which
the government unveiled
last July. This plan
includes a section about
water resources, through
three priority actions:
improvement to
aqueducts, construction
of a drinking water
supply system, and
improvements to the
water operation and
supply systems.
According to data
presented by German
Araya Montezuma,
regional director of AyA,
Costa Rica is currently
No. 30 in the world in
the supply of drinking
water through piping
systems — which is good
for a developing
country. However, the
country’s main challenge
is the treatment of
wastewater, which in
addition to being
hazardous to public
health, are a top source
of contamination to
aquifers underground.
Only 3.5 percent of
wastewater in the
country is adequately
treated, according to
Araya Montezuma. This
problem is even bigger
in a region like
Guanacaste, where there
are large real estate
and tourism development
that drive the
province’s economy.
The AyA official
criticized the lack of
regulatory plans,
especially in popular
tourism destinations.
However, the executive
director of the
Guanacaste Chamber of
Tourism, Mauricio
Cespedes, said that the
tourism and real estate
sector shouldn’t be the
only one blamed for the
scarcity of water in the
province and the
inadequate treatment of
residual waters — as he
claimed that the
consumption of water by
this sector is minimal
compared to other
industries such as
agriculture, livestock
production and
manufacturing. He
acknowledged, though,
that his industry is
aware that there is a
need to improve the
rational use of water
and, especially, the
treatment of wastewater,
as some hotels have even
been shut down because
of failing to comply
with legislation in this
area.
Even though there seems
to be consensus that
Costa Rica doesn’t have
problems with its supply
of water for human
consumption, seminar
participants said
there’s a lack of
infrastructure to take
that water to users.
Despite the availability
of water that
characterizes Costa
Rica, there could be
scarcity issues in
Guanacaste in the future
because forested areas
that are crucial for
recharging aquifers have
been cleared for cattle
raising or planting
extensive crops such as
rice and sugar cane.
In this regard, the
Ministry of the
Environment highlighted
the function of the
Environmental Services
Payment System of the
National Forest
Financing Fund, as a way
of taking care of water
resource availability.
This system seeks to
motivate landowners to
preserve forested areas
financially by paying
them for not cutting
down trees or for
implementing
reforestation efforts or
executing agro-forestry
projects.
Since 1997, this program
has recruited 602,000
hectares of land, of
which 87 percent are in
the forest protection
category, with the rest
being in reforestation
and forest system plans.
Finally, at the water
seminar, individuals who
participated in the Expo
Zaragoza 2008 in Spain
(which focused on water
rights), shared the main
ideas discussed at the
forum and international
agreements that were
made.
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