Aventuras en Costa Rica: Flow

Last week, we watched the documentary “Flow,” which is about the privatization of water resources leading to a lack of potable water for much of the world’s population. We then took a field trip to the town of Concepción de San Rafael de Heredia to see their water source and learn about water conservation efforts there.

When we arrived, we were so happy to breathe the fresh, slightly chilly air. I’ve said it before, but that’s one thing that I love about Costa Rica: even just an hour bus ride brought us to a completely different ecosystem. The weather here reminded me of Northern California; pine trees and mountains galore. We met up with an environmental lawyer/activist and a farmer, who have both worked hard on water conservation efforts in the region.

As we hiked up to see the water source for this county, our hosts explained to us the importance of avoiding privatization of the water supply. There are several large, powerful international companies that have taken over government control of water supply, claiming they will provide cleaner water for more people. Most of the time, the opposite happens: public water fountains are shut down, cutting the poorest citizens off completely from the water supply. Unable to afford iodine tablets for purification, they are then forced to drink untreated water from the polluted rivers and risk death from disease. The water supply in Concepción is owned by the people (through taxes), which is a very important step.

After hiking for awhile, our guides stopped us to explain that we had arrived at the border of the protected region. A law passed in 1888 protected a large area of land in Heredia Province from which much of the water supply originates, stating that no private ownership or building was allowed on this land. This law has been completely forgotten and ignored, which was clear to us by the fact that there was no difference between the land on either side of the border; private farms and houses continued with no interruption.

Here's the border of the protected area... there aren't even any signs marking it

Finally, we ended up at the stream that is the source of drinking water for the region. Our guides explained that before massive citizen fundraising efforts in recent years, water “treatment” consisted of taking water straight from the streams and dumping in unmeasured amounts of chlorine. Often, in the rainy season, sediment would be washed into the river and water from the tap would come out brown in color. Now, they have a much more technologically advanced system that removes sediments and treats the water with the proper amounts of chemicals. The water in Concepción can now actually be considered “potable.”


Water collection for human consumption... Don't swim in the drinking water stream.

Stream where the drinking water comes from

One thing that shocked me to learn was that many small towns in Costa Rica still drink river water with chlorine dumped in. And, according to our guide, that type of water “treatment” is included in the 95% potable water in Costa Rica that you read about in tourist guide books. He believes that is a flat-out lie, explaining that there is a difference between “safe for human consumption” and “potable;” Costa Rica may have 95% “safe for human consumption” water, but far, far less than that percentage is actually potable. Yikes!

We found some black raspberries on our hike!

This was all very educational and thought-provoking, but it was also fun to just go on a hike with my friends in a beautiful place! We hiked back from the stream (which was very exciting and involved one of my classmates twisting her ankle and being picked up in an ox cart… only in Costa Rica) to ACM director Chris Vaughan’s organic farm.

View from the road we hiked up

On the farm, we picked our own carrots for a snack, which we ate along with some gallos (corn tortilla sandwiches) made with homemade tortillas and fresh queso blanco from the region. The cheese tasted so fresh – one of my friends remarked that she could taste the cow in the cheese. It was good… but being a Wisconsinite I have to say it wasn’t as good as fresh cheese curds at the Dane County Farmer’s Market in Madison! We also snacked on home-baked tamal asado (like a dense cake, made with corn flour, sugar and sour cream). We then took a tour of the organic farm, seeing banana plants and avocado trees before running back onto the bus right before the rain started. It’s definitely transitioning into the rainy season here; sunny in the mornings and rainy in the afternoons.