Rep. Suray Carrillo (FA) has presented a bill to Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly that would prohibit the use of potable water to irrigate golf courses.

“I consider it urgent to amend the [General Water Law] which dates from 1953, to update the protection measures of water as a finite and strategic resource vital to humans; our country must learn that we cannot continue using water excessively and we need to take immediate action to prevent its indiscriminate waste in non-essential activities […] My dear province of Guanacaste is suffering a drought that worsens year after year, there was a decrease in rainfall of 42 percent just last year, creating a risk to the supply of drinking water; that is why I am presenting this bill to ban the use of potable water [by golf courses],” Carrillo said before her fellow lawmakers.

 

Carrillo previously called for outright ban on golf courses

Rep. Carrillo in October of last year had presented a bill that sought to completely prohibit the existence of golf courses in the country, arguing that they endanger citizens’ rights to equal access to water and are a detriment to the country’s environment.

That bill, however was met with strong opposition from the country’s tourism sector, including the Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels, which argued that the sport provides employment for more than 2,000 families and generates revenues of US $260 million for the country annually.

 

Over-exploitation of aquifers is contaminating Guanacaste groundwater: official

Elizabeth Fallas, one of the officials that oversee community water systems known as ASADAs for the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), said last week that thousands of people in Guanacaste are receiving water that has been salinized to the point it is no longer fit for human consumption, and that the over-exploitation of the province’s aquifers was to blame.