The "Grande de Tarcoles" River Basin covers an area of 2,189 km2 (4.6% of the national territory) and accounts for 1,600,000 inhabitants (50% of the country's population and 80% of the country's industries, businesses and other services). This Basin is the most polluted of Costa Rica.
The major problems affecting the Basin are the discharges of untreated domestic, agricultural and industrial wastewater and of solid wastes into riverbeds, the extraction of sediment due to mining activities, the accelerated demographic increase and the uncontrolled urban expansion, also the inadequate land use.
The solution to this problematic situation lies within the competence of inter-institutional coordination, the participation of local communities and the elaboration of multi-purpose projects. The impetus to save the Basin has come from the local authorities and this initiative led to the creation of a Basin Committee involving the Government, municipilaties, companies, non governmental organizations and community representatives, united by a common goal : how to restore and manage the Basin in order to improve the standard of living of its inhabitants.
One of the accomplishments of this Committee has been the elaboration of a project for "Integrated management of natural resources in the 'Grande de Tarcoles' River basin".
This project will be implemented over a 12-year period, divided into three four-year periods. It will cost 372 million dollars and comprises five components :
1 -
Land use planning, designed to classify present and potential land use, according to productivity.
2 -
Recovery of degraded landand research in order to find systems for natural resources management and conservation.
3 -
Control of domestic and industrial pollution.
4 -
Monitoring of drinking water.
5 -
Reinforcement of inter-institutional coordination links in order to establish project planning, follow-up and evaluation mechanisms and allow for training and participation of institutions and communities.
The Committee's next objective is to set up a real Basin Agency.
Húbert Méndez Acosta
Rio Grande de Tárcoles Basin Committee
To carry out its mission, ICLAM is presently reorganizing while applying the following criterion : land use planning and control of the utilization of the natural heritage are the responsibility of regional basin authorities.
The reorganization of ICLAM, which started in 1995, is carried out along two converging lines:
1.
The setting up of a regulatory framework for a programme that will develop the resources of the Maracaibo Lake basin in order to establish a sustainable economic basis,
2.
The reform of ICLAM's administrative structure , as an Institute that plans to fulfil its duties regarding basin management by developing its capabilities, within the decree that created it.
All these activities are completed with the support of national and international consultants and are financed by the Andean Development Company (CAF).
ICLAM is implementing systems for wastewater collection, transport and treatment in the main towns of Zulia State, thanks to a project coordination unit.
In Maracaibo, two wastewater treatment plants are being built that will cover a population of 1,500,000 inhabitants.
On the eastern coast, two wastewater treatment plants are being built for the towns of Cabimas and Ojeda to cover a population of 400,000 inhabitants.
In addition, a project will be jointly implemented by ICLAM and the petrochemical plant of El Tablazo to pump and transport Maracaibo wastewater (1,300 l/s) by way of pipes under the lake to a treatment plant that will produce water for industrial use, the project cost is estimated at about 75 million dollars.
Lenin Herrera
ICLAM
Fax : (58-061) 221 702/923 782
The first three issues of the "RED" Newsletter have been published, the second issue being devoted to planning at river basin level.
What is the "Red" ?
It is a Cooperation Network on Integrated Water Resources Management for a Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Created four years ago, the "RED" is a structure with a technical objective set up by institutions in charge of water resources management and managerial organizations which can be public, private or autonomous and from ECLAC member countries. Its aim is to improve the management skills for water resources utilization in its various aspects (institutional, administrative, economic and financial, legal and technological) and projects for services related to this management, by information exchanges and direct cooperation between its members.
ECLAC's Division of Natural Resources and Energy sponsored the creation of "RED" and has collaborated with the institutions that are involved in the network by giving them technical support and logistics.
For more information, please contact :
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Fax : (56 -2) 208 0252 / 208 1946
The extraordinary Assembly of CAPRE's Regional Coordination Committee, which was held in Santo-Domingo (Dominican Republic) on January 18 and 19, unanimously nominated the new Executive Director: Iliana Arce Umaña, Costa Rican, who comes from the Potable Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Costa Rica.
CAPRE (Potable water supply and sewerage companies of Central America and the Caribbean) is a permanent and independent international organization with legal status and its own budget, in charge of coordinating the potable water and sanitation sector in Central America and the Caribbean.
This function was ratified in 1993 by SICA (Integration System for Central America).
At present, CAPRE includes the following countries : Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Iliana Arce Umaña
CAPRE - San José - Costa Rica
Fax : (506) 222 3941
The impact of human activities on the river basin significantly increased because of the utilization of forests, soil, rivers and lakes without thinking of the future.
Irrigation has only been developed in the downstream part of the basin to the prejudice of middle and upstream regions because of lack of financial resources and professional skills.
Numerous problems are to be solved:
*
due to the lack of any audit of irrigation/drainage infrastructure and information, it is difficult to plan the system operation and maintenance,
*
monitoring stations are insufficient and in bad condition,
*
lack of propositions of appropriate alternative crops that could be substituted to traditional crops requiring a lot of water,
*
user associations do not accept pricing at real cost and this is hindering the implementation of the Programme for maintenance and rehabilitation,
*
cultivation and irrigation plans are not efficient tools to calculate, program and allocate the water flow between the various irrigation sub-sectors, because these are not respected,
*
4,000 ha are illegally used.
Due to the lack of a real budget, the Technical Company for Conservation, Operation and Maintenance Ltd cannot implement an annual maintenance programme, and the User Committee was therefore entrusted with maintenance works.
But the associations of users from the same district have no professional capability to carry out or control water distribution. Thus it is necessary to prepare intensive training programmes.
In addition, the user committees lack adequate mechanisms to enforce penalties and payment of water.
Finally, due to the lack of statistics, the checking of water distribution efficacy and the carrying out of periodic assessments of the Agricultural Campaign results are impossible.
To solve existing problems, our institution thinks that it is necessary to:
a)
completely reorganize water management in the basin, starting with the downstream area,
b)
design a basin masterplan which will propose permanent participation and dialogue mechanisms to take into account the evolution of expectations and needs of basin actors, and draw out inter-institutional agreements.
Carlos G. Alvitez Alvitez
Autonomous Authority for Chancay - Lambayeque River Basin
Fax : (51-74) 226 179
WATER MANAGEMENT DURING TIMES OF SHORTAGE
IN CHIRA-PIURA RIVER BASIN
A regulated irrigation is applied in the valleys of the Middle and Lower Piura. All agricultural campaigns encounter the same problems caused by the lack of training.
A strong social pressure exists to obtain water, but the lack of training, of capital and human resources in the irrigation sector hinder the good utilization of water and cause wastage, thus limiting the resource usefulness for all sectors.
Thus it is necessary to change practices while taking into account that cotton crop is important in Middle and Lower Piura basin, and encourage negotiation and dialogue to objectively rationalize water resources utilization and management.
Therefore, the setting up of a series of measures for water utilization and management has become imperative.
Oscar V. Garrasco Vasquez
Autonomous Authority of Chira-Piura River Basin
Fax : (51-74) 336 458
RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT OF NIMA RIVER BASIN : MODEL OF REHABILITATION
The Nima River basin, a tributary of Cauca River, 18 km long, is important as it supplies Palmira town and its 300,000 inhabitants, generates hydropower, thanks to the building of two power plants, and irrigates 6,900 ha of intensive crop (sugar cane for 93%).
Its ecosystem covers 3,050 ha of barren lands, with 13 lagoons, one of which involves 5.5 million m3. Erosion and degradation occur on 40 % of the basin area.
Rehabilitation activities involve the following projects:
*
creation of a Committee for the protection and improvement of the Nima River Basin, composed of the Valley Government, the Autonomous Authority of Cauca River Basin, Palmira Municipality and public municipal enterprises of Palmira,
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the association of Rio Nima irrigation users (87 users) who pay water utilization charges,
*
the rehabilitation of 20 unprotected springs and of a forest of 23 ha,
*
4,000 ha were acquired in the upstream part of the river, inhabited by settlements, to set up a protected forest area,
*
building of 2,500 m3 of walls to form sub-basins with regulating works for torrents to retain silt thus improving water quality and stopping the severe erosion,
*
forest plantations on 5,000 ha,
*
setting up an environmental and educational centre in the areas thus acquired to involve the community in a recreation park that received 1,800 visitors in 1995.
