Rafael Villalta, executive president of “AyA”, Costa Rican Institute for Aqueducts and sewage, visited our province last month to attend to several activities, among them, to accomplish the invitation from Hacienda Pinilla to the Christmas party in honor to the employees. We were able to talk to Mr. Villalta, he told us about the works being made here in Guanacaste.

“in the latest years AyA has made very important investments in the province of Guanacaste, for instance the inhabitants of the metropolitan area (San Jose) had many problems during the last dry season, especially because of the shortage of drinking water, and it did not happen here in this zone, thanks to the multiple works we have done”, said Mr. Villalta.

He also stated that AyA has performed projects in Cañas, Liberia, Santa Cruz and Nicoya. He also commented that Hojancha was another granted place with their works, because a new aqueduct was built there, and its people really needed to have drinking water.

“the building of the Hojancha aqueduct meant an investment of more than ¢300 millions for AyA, this aqueduct was a dream for more than 30 years to that people, but this is a reality to all of them nowadays. They can be sure to have one of the best aqueducts in Costa Rica” said Mr. Villalta.

According to Mr. Villalta, another of the important works already done here in the province was the enlargement of the oxidation lagoons in other places such as Liberia and Cañas. He also stated that AyA has already bought some properties in Santa Cruz and Nicoya to extend its services.

Improving rural aqueducts is another issue planned by AyA to be finished before this government’s period is ended due to the problems many communities have with the shortage of water, especially during the dry season.

For the executive president of AyA, the institution not only has been concerned during the latest years to provide the needed works in the province to benefit the Guanacaste People, but also its goal is to be responsible when permitting drinking water exploitation for tourist projects in the region.

“The Guanacaste people have to be conscious about the importance tourist developments have for the area and the country too. However, we will not give concessions if those affect other communities” said Mr. Villalta.

Mr. Villalta also talked about two other important projects in the province, Papagayo and Meliá Conchal. He mentioned about the problematic controversy AyA has for the possible concession to Meliá Conchal being that there are ten Santa Cruz coastal communities against it. Mr. Villalta did not want to go deeper into this issue, but he said those communities do not have to be worried if once the investigations being made at the river Nimboyones indicate that such underground water level is not enough, because AyA will not risk the distribution of the precious liquid on the communities nearby this river.

Minor Dinarte
Chorotega Newspaper
January 2002