The Costa Rican government will collect a
tax this year from 388 companies that are
polluting rivers around the country with
wastewater and the funds will go to
improving the water treatment system.
The Ministerio de Ambiente y Energia y
Telecommunicaciones (MINAET) says it
intends to penalize those firms, homes or
government institutions that dump sewage,
soaps or other pollutants such as
agricultural chemicals, solvents and
untreated human waste into rivers.
The tax will vary according to the level of
pollution, and it will be different for
companies and homes.
The Costa Rican government hopes to collect
some us$8 million by the end of the year by
assessing the tax, funds that will be used
to build sanitary sewage systems and to
treat wastewater from firms and individual
homes.
Ministry official Jose Miguel Zeledon said
that the effort will benefit the
municipalities that do not have an adequate
system for disposing of liquid waste.
About 60% of the money collected will go
toward improving the water system, 20%
toward monitoring the points at which
pollutants are being dumped, 15% toward
promoting environment-friendly production
systems and the remaining 5% toward
environmental education.
Official figures indicate that in Costa Rica
only 3 percent of the wastewater receives
treatment to make it safe to dump into the
environment. EFE
2002 - 2009
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