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The Ministry of Health has alerted local and foreign tourists of the beaches that present high contamination levels as a number of health problems such as skin infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections and headaches will most likely affect those who swim in these waters.
The AyA has stated that the accepted coliform count allowed is of 240 per every 100 milliliters of water. Some of these waters have presented eye opening levels of up to 4,900 coliforms per 100 milliliters of water.
The beaches that have been deemed not appropriate for swimming by the Ministry of Health and the AyA are Jaco, El Coco, Quepos, Cieneguita, Portete and Tambor. Other beaches mentioned in the report are still adequate for swimming but still present a considerable level of contamination. These beaches are Samara, Agujas, Hermosa, Herradura, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo.
The public sector has implemented an intervention method to force local commerce, hotel and residential homes to take the necessary precautions to avoid contamination and to commit to the preservation and conservancy of the environment.
This intervention has had very good results as recently shown by the Tamarindo beach. In Tamarindo, coliform levels went from 4,900 to 45 in one year. Although Tamarindo has shown an important improvement in its water’s quality, the Ecological Blue Flag cannot yet be granted as some key areas still present an unacceptable coliform level.
Hopefully the hotel industry as well as the beach communities will understand the gravity of their actions and will make amends in order to guarantee a steady tourist attraction for years to come.
