Sewage and Waste Runoff into the Ocean and Rivers Surrounding Jaco Beach.

The beach of Jaco, in Garabito, famous for its surfing and its party atmosphere, has once again found itself the center of negative attention. The beach has reached such levels of pollution that it is now considered a health hazard to swim in its water.

The fecal residues should not exceed a level of 240 per milliliters if the water is to be declared safe to swim in, anything over 500 is considered to be a health hazard. The latest samples taken by the the Institute of Water and Aqueducts (AyA) in June this year proved that the water in Jaco is way above this, with levels between 1100 and 2400. This level of contamination can have severe consequences, with diarrhea, vomiting, infections accompanied by high fever and various allergies. These dangerous levels show that the beach could be closed as it is becoming too dangerous to the health of the swimmers.

This problem is far from new. A year ago the same scenario took place, and the Municipality and the Health department were supposed to take the bull by the horns, by closing down polluting establishments and creating a program that would clean up the river water that empties into the ocean. Sewage is still carelessly disposed of in the rivers, together with any other rubbish such as plastic bags, glass, and toxic products. It is almost sad to think that Jaco was on the Blue Flag Program. The Blue Flag is raised in Costa Rica beaches that passed the water tests and that are clean and free from pollution of any kind, among other things. Jaco is a long way away from deserving this honor.

It is difficult to understand how such a grave matter could have gone on for so long. Last year the AyA got into contact with the health department, and many establishments were told that they were to either clean up their act, or close down. A new plant to treat the sewage was to be built. The municipality did not press the matter, neither did it take any action towards the construction of such a plant, and the situation has in fact worsened, as the beach now is so dirty and polluted that it is putting people’s lives at risk!

Far from jumping into fast and adequate action, the municipality has asked for more tests to be performed, with the promise of taking the appropriate measures should the levels still be high! Why they have made this decision is rather baffling, as nothing has been done yet, and the culprit companies (including Costa Rica Hotels, restaurants, stores and the like) have only learned that they can get away with not investing in the environment.

I visited the beach of Jaco about a year ago, on my way down the coast to the South Pacific. I personally wondered how people could be tempted to swim there! I would have thought that the smell was enough to put anybody off. Not long ago, a surf competition was organized in Jaco. Surfers from many countries take place in these competitions, and it is not very comforting when one thinks of the memories they will take back home with them, when Jaco was the only beach they visited in this beautiful country.

Costa Rica likes to present itself as an ecologically sound destination. This is surely going to be taken as a bad joke. It is time this country lived up to its reputation, or else it will have the reputation of being a dirty, polluted country, with dirty beaches and rivers where it is unsafe, indeed dangerous to swim. It is such a shame that things have got to get that bad before, hopefully, any action is taken.

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Filed under: Travel on August 8th, 2008