Water Wars

The proposal's main strategy is to cut the import, sales and selective consumption taxes on all products that save water.

Broad Front Party legislator Suray Carrillo Guevara is drafting a water conservation bill that would ban existing and future golf courses in Costa Rica.

NICOYA, Guanacaste – A rowdy crowd gathered in Nicoya’s central square jeering lawmakers and interrupting speeches with calls for “water now!” as clouds gathered overhead Saturday afternoon. Errant drops fell, promising the irony of a rainstorm during a protest over water supply and drought relief, but the rain did not come.

President Luis Guillermo Solís has been traveling across Guanacaste all week to sell his administration’s response to the the northwestern province’s chronic poverty and recent crises of drought and poor water management leading up to his speech here Saturday afternoon.

The City Council of Santa Cruz in the northwestern province of Guanacaste has continued to issue construction permits despite warnings of endangering the area's limited water supply.

Officials from the Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) and the Paraíso Municipality on Wednesday agreed to the first steps in addressing ongoing water shortages that in recent months have extended to two additional Cartago cantons.

For decades, residents in Costa Rica's northwestern province of Guanacaste have been drinking water containing dangerously high levels of arsenic. Despite a 2013 order from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, government agencies still have not provided Guanacastecos with clean drinking water.

On Tuesday, representatives for four public agencies discussed actions they will take to deal with a severe drought in the northern and central Pacific regions of the country.

Santo Domingo de Heredia declared a state of emergency due to lack of water Thursday, spreading concerns about the country's worsening drought.

Water in Costa Rica will be considered a public good, and general access for consumption will be a fundamental right, according to a bill passed in a first-round vote Monday night at the Legislative Assembly.

Water shortages currently affecting 77 communities throughout Costa Rica likely will continue until the end of April, the Water and Sewer Institute said this week.

Costa Rica and Nicaragua are headed back to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to settle another border dispute following years of wrangling over maritime oil-drilling blocks.

The government of Costa Rica announced Tuesday that it would file a new complaint against Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, this time for alleged seizure of maritime territory offered by Managua to international oil companies.