CR Surf News

From Inside Costa Rica - 3/5/07

97% Of Sewage Heads Straight For the Rivers

What happens to the waste from the sewage drains? Even though Costa Rica boasts of being environmentally friendly, only 3% of the waste is treated, that is 97% is sent to the rivers and creeks around the country.

This places the country in the list of five Latin American nations with the lower levels of water sanitation and below the average for the continent, according to the president of the water and sewer utility, the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), Ricardo Sancho.

Currently, the only sewage treatment facilities operated by the Aya are located in Pérez Zeledón; Barranca and El Roble, in Puntarenas; Limón; Cañas, Liberia, Santa Cruz and Nicoya, in Guanacaste.
In Metropolitan San José, the rivers and creeks that crisscross the city, collect the contaminated water and all dump into the Grande de Tárcoles river flowing into the Pacific ocean.

It is estimated that some 276 million litres of sewage is dumped into rivers and creeks in the Gran Área Metropolitana (San José), making it one of the most contaminated in Central America.

According to information by the AyA, the Gran Área Metropolitana has sanitary sewers that covers only 45% of the population that receives potable water.

Álvaro Araya, of the Dirección de Aguas Residuales del AyA, explains that companies connected to the sanitary sewers are expected are required to meet basic regulations before they can dispose of their waste into the sewers. However, a majority of residential homes, businesses and industry are not connected to the sewer network and those that don't count with a septic tank or treatment facility, dump directly into the rivers and ditches.

In the case of the Gran Área Metropolitana the sewer system is more than 30 years old and is collapsed, comprised of four collectors, Rivera, Tiribí, Torres and María Aguilar, that runs 86 kilometres. Many of the sewer pipes that run above ground and over the rivers, are broken or cracked, and spill sewage, leaving nearby residents having to fight off odours, flies and mosquitoes resulting from the leaking pipes.

Though work has been scheduled in many parts of the sewer system, it has yet to be done, according to William Leininger, of the Dirección de Aguas Residuales del AyA, who adds that the sewer network has to be completely repaired and increased with the objective of covering 65% of the population.

The solution, according to the AyA is forthcoming with the approval of the project Mejoramiento Ambiental del Área Metropolitana de San José (Alcantarillado Metropolitano) which will require an investment of us$230 million dollars in its first stage.