Project background:
The
case of the Central Valley. More than 50% of Costa Rica’s population are
concentrated
in
the Central Valley, a plateau at 1000 m of elevation surrounded by volcanoes,
whose fertile soils have made it an area of high agricultural activity, mainly
highly productive –and intensively managed- coffee plantations. This valley has
become the center of economic and social activities. However, due to rapid and
unplanned population increase and to the inadequate practices and policies
related to water management, most rivers, especially at the valley floor, are
highly contaminated with domestic, agricultural and industrial residues. For
this reason, most surface water in this region cannot be used for human
consumption, and not even for recreation or agricultural
activities.
Currently, approximately 1.5 million people in the Central Valley obtain
drinking water from the volcanic aquifers that underlie the region
and have come under risk of contamination derived from agricultural and urban sources.
Understanding that without
adequate water management policies there are increasing chanc
es
that water quality will continue to deteriorate, the need to establish mechanisms of
protection and
management
of water bodies has become clear. Only in this manner will Costa Rican
population have access to water of acceptable quality in the next years. This
initiative was part of research efforts conducted jointly by the
Environmental Hydrology Laboratory and Dr. Mohamed
Sultan at the Earth Sciences Remote Sensing Facility at the
University at Buffalo.
One of the most important
objectives of this investigation was to develop a geographic information system
(GIS) that incorporates various hydrologic, meteorologic, geologic and
geochemical data sets for the Barva aquifer as well as for the watersheds that
overly the aquifer. Such information is essential in order to provide
recommendations to the Costa Rican institutions and agencies in charge of water
administration.
Funds for this project have been provided
by the CR-USA
Foundation.
