www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Surprise surprise, Jaco wasn't on the ca ca list. Downtown Quepos was but nobody swims there and is not to be confused with Manuel Antonio. I've seen that 24"? drainage pipe in Quepos--the ca ca from the town just pours right into the ocean, and heavily all day. Anyway, here's from today's CR Hoy e-paper, half ass translated but you'll get the point:

"Seven beaches located in the Pacific and Caribbean country exceed recommended limits for fecal coliform entering vacationers take a swim.

El director del Laboratorio Nacional de Aguas, Darner Mora, indicó a crhoy.com que el nivel máximo de coliformes fecales recomendado para una playa es de 240 por 100 mililitros de agua. The head of the National Water Laboratory, Darner Mora, told crhoy.com the maximum fecal coliform level recommended for a beach is 240 per 100 milliliters of water.

Mora indicó que investigaciones realizadas por el Laboratorio permitieron determinar que en el Balneario municipal de Limón la contaminación sobrepasa los 1000 coliformes fecales, mientras que la playa de Cieneguita presenta también una contaminación importante. Mora said research conducted by the Laboratory have revealed that in the town of Limon Spa pollution exceeds 1000 fecal coliforms, while Cieneguita Beach also has significant pollution.

En el caso de las playas ubicadas en el Pacífico, Mora señaló que playa Herradura, Azul, Tárcoles, Guacalillo, y Quepos centro la contaminación sobrepasa los 250 coliformes fecales. In the case of the beaches located in the Pacific, Mora noted that Horseshoe Beach, Blue, Tárcoles Guacalillo and downtown Quepos contamination exceeds 250 faecal coliforms.

En el caso de la provincia de Guanacaste, Mora dijo que en playas del Coco hay descargas que afectan la calidad del agua. In the case of the province of Guanacaste, Mora said that Coco's beaches discharges that affect water quality.

“Evaluamos las playas periódicamente. "We evaluated the beaches regularly. Este año evaluamos 122 playas, de las cuales la gran mayoría son aptas para la natación (…) solo cinco playas no son aptas para la natación”, añadió Mora. This year we evaluated 122 beaches, of which the majority are suitable for swimming (...) only five beaches are unfit for swimming," said Mora. "

Honestly, when I was recently in Jaco there were people swimming and surfing there and I put my hand in the water and it looked very clear. I realize that dosen't mean anything but I have been near filthy beach water before that was far worse than this.

I have no knowledge how fecal matter disperses in an ocean from point A to point B, but as the findings point out, Quepos bay is polluted but Playa Manuel Antonio was not mentioned, yet as we know, they are very close "as the crow flies" or maybe "as the fish swim" is better.

Similarly, Jaco was not on the polluted list which I think surprised alot of the Jaco beach naysayers including me, but Playa Herradura (location of Los Suenos resort) was on the list, and Jaco and LosSuenos are similarly very close.

I've never seen anybody in the "surf" in Quepos--aside from the pollution, it's just awful.

But, people do swim in the playa at Herradura which in parts is an appealing looking CR Pacific beach.

The pitch is low and inside but Greengo swings anyway. Blasts the ball out of the park, again.

Is there potable water in CR, let alone the stuff that by-passes any semblance of a water treatment facility? More and more me thinks not.

DGD, I love ya like a brother, but you're just flat out wrong about water in CR. It's shit. Period. Hell, locals don't drink tap water and that is data acquired from locals; at the locals' home: "Steven1!!!! Don't drink that!!! (I had gone to the tap at the sink to get some aqua). We don't drink that!!! Only drink aqua purificado....". I was then handed a 2 ltr bottle of Alpina. I shit you not. That took place in October, 2013 and I was the come to dinner overnight guest of an employee of a certain hotel. He/She had no axe to grind but was simply trying to tell me what time it is. He/She ought to know..........

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

There was a link in my original post in this thread, don't know why it is not there now but the board is currently wierd about retrieving posts I've noticed, but it was the link to a recent "Blue Flag" study by a CR govt entity of various beach fecal count levels with CoCo, Herradura, and Quepos (not ManAntonio) failing and Jaco passing with an acceptable level which surprised me and others I am sure because the common thinking is Jaco beach is a cess pool.

I attest not to the validity of this reported water analysis. It's been a long, long time since I stuck my feet in the surf, even in Manuel Antonio where I hang, knowing of CR's "dirty little secret". And I cringe when I see the tico toddlers playing in those little back wash ponds and streams by the tree line knowing that those are probably mainly septic run off from the hotel overloads or stuff coming down from the few neighborhoods in M.A.

I also agree about the drinking water but I don' drink the tap water in the US either. In my major old city, the delivery pipes have to be rust buckets and porous by now.

But it's hard to get away from whatever problems may be in the local tap water. After all, you or where you eat wash their silverware and cups and glassses and dinner ware in it, make ice for your cocktails from it, make soup from it, Imperial is brewed with it, the farmers irrigate their crops with it so it's in all of your fruits and veggies and are washed with it and they say salad is the worst, and you brush your teeth with it , as examples. So how do you get completely away from it? You can't.

However, I used to drink CR tap water, like making my coffee for example or making ice before I became water-noid and I never got sick, at least in the cramps or the runs variety. Silently hurting me long term? Maybe.

What to do, what to do?

DGD/Steven1:

That is an interesting point about ice cubes and other things. How about the shower water we use daily in CR. Scary stuff, but the only way to go is not to let it stress you out, at least things we cannot totally control.

Over here in the States, I have a Reverse Osmosis system in my house. I highly recommend that type system.

DGD:

My posts about Costa Rica are not meant to condemn the place but rather simply see it for what is and, more importantly, what it is NOT. A "problem" or "warning" cannot be dealt with or heeded unless the "problem" (I guess they're calling them "challenges" these days. BS. They're problems) is first identified and owned.

I drink only bottled, reverse osmosis, ozanated water everywhere I go, including my very own commander seat here at Steveland. But our discussions are not about Steveland or anywhere else, really....they're about Costa Rica. Forewarned is forearmed.

Traveling, it has always amused me how everywhere I've been or go the locals brag on their water....and that includes every place I've been in the USA. Funny as all get out. Recently, after arriving in The Netherlands, my first mission was to *drum roll* that's right....stock up on water Spa Bleu. The caretaker like to flip out telling me there are no problems with the water in Nederland and how foolish I was being. *shrug* I still only drank the Spa Bleu; didn't get sick; and that's that.

Having lived off of cistern water ONLY for over 3 years on Grand Cayman I have grown to respect and even nurture water. It is our most precious gift...that and the air we breath. I conserve water at every turn to the point where I use less than 800 gallons of water per month in my modest 900sq ft. cottage. The City frequently calls me to tell me I am stealing water and to fess up! It's funny shit!! However, having lived off a cistern such that, literally, if it did not rain, I had no water is sobering. Couple that fact with the reality that the entire island was sprayed via airplane every 3 days or so to deal with the mosquitoes: I'm slow...it took a couple of weeks.....but I finally had a eureka moment "Steven1, that plane is spraying poison (DDT) on your roof. When the rain comes doesn't it wash the DDT from the zinc roof into the cistern?" "!! Why yes, Steven1 it does. Are you going to drink that water?" A local tells me "Ah mahn....just put in some bleach..."! I did not. I bought Perrier via the case. It was affordable/cheap back then. Remember, Grand Cayman is an island found by pirates on the concept of piracy.

Lucky me....years later I find out the Perrier I was drinking was the lot that very well may have had benzene in it. Great Can't win for losing....but ya can sure try!

I think one is doing a service to uninformed eco tourists and the rain forest and the jungle and the people of Costa Rica by underscoring this water issue over and over but that's just me. It's been my experience when you explain with facts about the sewage treatment, the "eco tourists" really don't want to know the facts and dismiss the data as crackpot jive. Most annoying as it is this group that can have impact on the problem if they would get with the reality they're in.

Same with the beach goers. Why anybody would travel to Costa Rica for beach time mystifies me given all the other beaches not far away at all. It ain't surf city either. It is fun to go over the stats with people headed for the beach or at the beach and remind them that while they're frolicking away.....there co-mingling with raw sewage.

_________________
"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

Given the lack of infrastructure investment in the US, CR now is where the US is going to be. I totally agree about reverse osmosis--I can see that being a Code requirement in the not-too-distant future.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED