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Update on Wastewater and Blue Flag Certification
Posted by Editor | March 30, 2008 | Categories: Environment | Comments Off
 Untreated grey water runs down a street in Mexico. |
We received a letter (below, translated from Spanish) from Rolando Soto, of the Caribe Sur Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, giving us an update on the ongoing efforts of his group and the community with regards to two important related issues facing our community that have been reported recently in the Talamanca News: Playa Negra losing its blue flag certification and the lack of municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Puerto Viejo.
The chamber has continued for more than 2 years to insist with the municipality and the Minister of Health that the 3 creeks which drain grey water (*editor: see note below) from the town of Puerto Viejo into the sea, must be treated. The treatment of grey water is neither very complicated nor expensive. In our case it would require only political will and action on the part of our authorities. It is for this reason that our beautiful Playa Negra beach in front of Puerto Viejo lost its blue flag. The chamber has again offered its collaboration with the Development Association and other persons interested in this problem to try to resolve this problem soon. The chamber can be contacted at turismocaribesur@yahoo.com.
*In much of Costa Rica and in much of the world (but not so familiar to North Americans), ”black water” (from the toilet) and “grey water” (from sinks and showers) are separately drained with the black water flowing to a septic system and the grey waters being sent in a separate direction. A properly constructed grey water field will treat these waters properly without contaminating creeks, the sea or ground water. But unfortunately many grey water systems are just drains which flow where they will. In this case, it is clear that this is the cause of the problem in Puerto Viejo.
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