In a country riddled with waterfalls and rainforests, and bounded by sparkling oceans, the dry northern region of Guanacaste, Costa Rica which borders Nicaragua, often suffers from water shortages.

The rapid growth of tourism and construction have stressed the low-lying water tables, and caused some aquifers to become salinized and the water unfit for human consumption, such as in Playa Panama.

A current lack of an overall solution to the drinking water demand in the coastal region has tourist development virtually paralyzed, said a report in Costa Rica’s main Spanish daily La Nación.

The investments on hold in Guanacaste province’s Gulf of Papagayo, which have not been able to start due to the lack of water, are valued at US$320 million, said the report. This includes 11 different tourism-oriented development projects in the seaside region.

At present “… Nine concessions that include 11 hotels are abandoned at the Papagayo Development Complex in Liberia and Carrillo. Four of these hotels have already completed their permits and paperwork, and seven have not even begun that stage due to their inability to submit a request for a water concession,” reported La Nación.

The four who are ready to start building involve a joint investment of US$174 million total for the Melia Paradisus Papagayo hotel (for a cost of $90 million and with 412 rooms), Yu Papagayo (a $22 million investment with 151 rooms), The Point (a $55 million project with 150 rooms), and an expansion of the Gran Papagayo Hotel valued at $7.8 million for an addition of 60 rooms, according to data from the Papagayo Development Complex management.

The other seven hotels include an estimated planned investment of US$145.7 million and include the eventual construction of Punta Mar, Costa Mona, two Altepe hotels, and three condominium complexes.

Officials from the Costa Rican Aqueduct and Sewerage agency (AyA) said in 2018 they plan to have the Las Trancas aqueduct operating which will supply the Papagayo Development Complex and neighboring communities.

Yamileth Astorga, AyA  executive president, said to La Nación in an interview that “… we are so close to a solution that Wednesday the board of directors will choose the construction company [for the aqueduct] from three final bidders.”

Many local residents have tired of hearing promises from the water agency central office, as aqueducts have been promised for years with no results, and, in addition, many fear that more aqueducts will only stress the water tables and give only a short-term solution to a water-scarce region, according to reports in the regional media La Voz de Guanacaste.