Water quality management through community engagement in Costa Rica

Concerns about stream water quality are increasing in Latin America. Poor sanitation infrastructure coupled with a high demand from agricultural development, recreational use, drinking, and sanitation creates a strong need to balance water quality and quantity to meet these demands. Wastewater from various levels of development combined with changes in climate and rainfall patterns has created unique watershed management challenges. Ecologically, tropical river watersheds with their unique hydrology (wet and dry seasons), steep slopes, characteristically long shape, and rapidly changing life zones present management challenges. Sociologically, weak overall protective legislation, streambed manipulation, withdrawals, minimal wastewater treatment, and beliefs water is abundant have produced a lax attitude for protection. To assess these concerns, we studied three river watersheds within a biological corridor along a northern Pacific slope in Costa Rica. We characterized baseline river water quality and then paired biological and chemical parameters to develop an index of water quality. Results suggest agricultural inputs and withdrawal, greywater urban inputs, community water use, and natural features of the watershed including climate concerns must be managed together to improve water quality and provide adequate water resources. Community involvement, along with a water quality index useable by the general public, was a key to the overall success of the project.