Residents of Dominical in the canton of Osa denounce with great concern the growing deforestation activity in the area by development companies that are dedicated to the real estate and tourism market, affecting not only the great existing biodiversity but also putting at risk access and affecting water scarcity.
Since the 1950s, the residents of the area were in charge of managing the distribution of water – at that time not potable -, thus building a collection tank that was in the first instance in charge of the Perez Zeledón Fishing Club Recreational Association. , later it was worked through the figure of Rural Aqueduct, later from 2000 to 2008 it was under the responsibility of the Association for the Pro-construction and Administration of the Dominical Aqueduct, a period in which the water was still not drinkable. In July 2008, it was taken over by Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), allowing the process of making drinking water drinkable to begin, which is currently fortunately a reality. The aqueduct infrastructure has remained in the same place for 72 years. If we refer to it today, it is located on the Inter-American Highway 300 meters south of the Plaza Pacífico Supermarket.
An ever-growing conflict
The growing gentrification in Osa has meant that a large part of the land passes into the hands of foreign investors and, in turn, conflicts are generated with the local population because the practices of said investors often threaten nature and water specifically. Such is the case of DOMI FARM SOCIEDAD DE RESPONSABILIDAD LIMITADA, legal ID 3-102-855834, who from 2023 to the present, have carried out large deforestations and earth movements, affecting water springs and streams that, although located on their property, have a direct impact on the environment and access to water for the entire population of the area.
On March 14 of this year, members of the Communal Emergency Committee visited the site to record the damage caused and as a result, the director of the Drinking Water Section of AyA for the Brunca Region was able to appear. to validate the Committee’s information as well as to initiate a legal process since both deforestation and earthworks are being carried out without the proper permits, clearly, as the residents point out, “without planning and in a whimsical manner for their own benefit.”
Given the concern and the repercussions of this type of actions, formal consultations have been carried out with the Diquís Sub Region of the Osa Conservation Area, the Municipality of Osa and the Water Directorate of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and in none of these institutions, as of March of this year, requests have been processed by said company to carry out such actions.
For the first time in 16 years since the AyA took over the aqueduct, on March 22nd, Dominical did not have water for more than 10 hours and since then its state of cleanliness and purification has been compromised because the color of diluted earth gives alert that there is great sedimentation in the well, linked to those earthworks that the company in question has carried out in recent weeks. This situation gave rise to a formal complaint process.
Stating their claims by all means possible
Although the administrative procedure is fundamental, for the community of Dominical the greatest concern is that the developers repeat these practices that devour the territory in an accelerated manner and sometimes with irreversible impacts. For the community, “it is important that we do everything formal, go to the institutions, but we realized that in 2023 some residents of that property filed a complaint with the MINAE and it has not gone from there.”
Environmental disasters such as the one that was evident in recent days caused by DOMO FARM, not only harm the human right to drinking water but also produce scarcity, which evidently makes the people who depend on these water sources for life very vulnerable.
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