AyA Officials Met with Users of Tamarindo and Langosta

The prices for potable water service in town continue to be the subject of discussion in Tamarindo and Langosta. The Tamarindo News has reported on the concerns of users who believe that they are paying a more expensive water service rate with AyA management than with ASADA’s.

From April 6 to April 9, several officials of the state institution, including Mr. Roosevelt Alvarado, National Assistant Manager of AyA, visited the area to carry out a number of activities. They inspected and tested the water supply system in order to verify the proper or improper functioning of the meters, and whether their use by consumers justifies the increase in the amounts charged by AyA. They conducted a study on customers reportedly consuming more than 100 cubic meters. In addition, during two days, lectures were given on the importance of water and how to use it in a sustainable and rational way. Some trading houses presented special devices to save water in homes and businesses. On April 8, other talks were scheduled for maintenance, food, and cleanliness for staff members of the hotels. On April 9, the officials met with hotel managers, business managers, and homeowners.

The Tamarindo News consulted some of the attendees, including Mrs. Muriel Cuny, who said, "The meeting was great in the sense that I was able to talk to someone about my problems with AyA. I am currently waiting to meet with some experts from San Jose and see if AyA will recognize their error and return the over payment to me." Galo Malavasi, General Manager of Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo, stated, "Basically, they explained the importance of water and their concern over its misuse. As residents, we took on the task of making the claim as to why the price increased that much? They indicated that it is part of a national strategy for people to watch over the natural resource. The rates currently applied are those authorized by ARESEP (Public Services Regulatory Authority), which cannot be changed at the moment. In our plea to apply different rates for the tourist sector in accordance to the unique conditions of our area, Mr. Roosevelt Alvarado committed himself to continuing his work with our community. He also promised to work on the development of a wastewater treatment plant for the area. We were explained ASADA’s current situation. They told us that they are negotiating on the possibility of working together in Tamarindo. Without this, we will not be able to have treatment plant. As for the condos, we were assured that they would use the residential rate and not the commercial rate. There are some changes that have to be done in some cases.”

The officials, including Mr. Roosevelt Alvarado, said that in general, the country has grown a lot. For that reason, the entity responsible for providing water services had to take national measures in order to render the best service possible, without depleting the aquifers. In particular, Tamarindo’s aquifer should be treated with special care because the water drawn is located about 10 meters deep. They indicated that the problem of the area is complicated because there is not enough water and consumers are sometimes making use of it in irrational ways. In Tamarindo, ASADAS is reported to have 36 wells that spend 146.93 liters per second, while AyA is reported to have 7 wells that spend 35.3 liters per second. We asked why AyA’s operating costs are much higher than ASADAS’, but there was no specific answer given by Mr. Malavasi.

Upon request, The Tamarindo News received via email, Mark Schneider’s point of view. He has been in constant communication with state institutions and public officials, not only because of these water issues, but also because of the construction of new roads (Langosta’s in particular). Mark Schneider writes, ”The community was attending the meeting to find out why we are being charged outrageous water bills. Every person that I spoke to in the community said that their usage, or how they conduct their usage, is the same today as it was 3, 4, or 5 years ago. This being said, if everyone is going about using water the same today as they did so many years ago, the common sense question is, regardless of how you are now assessing my water usage, how can you justify a 200% to 400% increase over the past year? AyA is choosing to ignore this very important question. Regardless of any other issue or any other government body that they choose to misdirect us to, the property owner is being grossly overcharged as compared to any other area in the country. Why? AyA will not attempt to answer this with a common sense answer or look into the problem for a resolution. This is a financial rape of a community made up primarily of foreigners; there is no other way around this. We still demand answers and we want our rates reassessed to the rates that are consistent with everyone else in other areas of the country.”

The Tamarindo News tried to obtain the opinion of Mr. Roosevelt Alvarado, National Assistant Manager of AyA, but we were unable to receive his replies before press time. We wanted to know his views on their visit to the area, what problems did they identify, how are they going to be solved, and if they considered users’ complaints well founded? Parallel to the development of these activities, an exhibition of home and industrial appliances designed to save water consumption up to 100% in some cases, took place in town.