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The Costa Rican Constitutional Court, the country’s highest chamber, ruled in support of restrictions on water permits for developments in some hilly areas of Heredia, a province adjacent to the San José metropolitan area, said the judiciary press office this week.
The high court rejected an appeal filed by a citizen by the last name of Rodríguez against the Public Services Company of Heredia (ESPH, its initials in Spanish). Rodríguez claimed that the water company’s restrictions on his need for water violated his fundamental rights.
Rodríguez planned to build housed in the San Josecito district, in the San Rafael canton of Heredia, for which he said he needed 55 water connections. However, based on the report that identified areas subject to water scarcity, the company rejected his application for the permits.
The water survey revealed serious supply risks and led the ESPH to decide on August 8, 2014, that it would not grant new water connections in the areas of Concepción (San Rafael de Heredia) and Concepción, Santa Elena, and Breña de Mora (San Isidro de Heredia).
The restrictions apply to urbanizations, developments, new services for houses, and additional meters.
Part of the court’s resolution states, “(…) studies and technical reports show that there is no flow capacity to provide the services requested by the appellant to carry out a development project. In this sense, the lack of provision of drinking water service is not an arbitrary decision, nor is it unfounded, but it is based on the material impossibility, by the lack of water resources.”
There is a lot of demand for water in certain areas, and funding to conduct research into new sources have not yet been authorized, said Allan Benavides, manager of the ESPH.
“The company has never stopped looking towards the future, and we will maintain the temporary restrictions until we reach a consistent supply of water that can sustain local development,” added Benavides.
The restrictions on water permits for buildings in these higher elevations of Heredia‘s province will expires August 8, 2018. The ESPH is analyzing whether they will lift the restrictions then or extend them.
A scarcity of potable water not only affects Heredia. Three districts of Santa Cruz de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica also had water permits denied due to overuse of the main coastal aquifer in the area.
In June 2014, the Municipal Council of Paraíso, Cartago agreed not to grant new water connections for developments until the water supply problems are resolved.
