Nosara ASADAs Agree to Work Together to Request AyA’s Support

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Representatives of Nosara’s Administrative Associations of Rural Aqueducts, known as ASADAs, reached an agreement to work together on October 11 during the third Leadership Forum, which was held at the restaurant Rancho Tico in Nosara.

The agreement emerged from the Forum’s invitation, which was made in order to address various water problems confronting the district.

Christoph Hubman, president of the Nosara ASADA, stated that together, the ASADAs could receive more support from the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA – Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados).

“I think that working together is one of the only ways that AyA will pay attention to us, because they [control] us a bit like puppets, as we are very small organizations and not professionals, with very humble people who don’t have technical knowledge. AyA’s support is very limited,” commented Hubmann.

Economic difficulties stemming from from pump maintenance, high electricity costs and the lack of legal and administrative support were some of the common conflicts discussed by representatives of the seven ASADAs in Nosara.

“When a pump burns out it leaves us with debts; we don’t have funds to replace it immediately. The amount we pay for electricity is difficult to cover with our revenue. The tubes in our distribution network are obsolete,” explained Carlos Hernandez, president of the Las Delicias ASADA.

During the Forum, an agreement was reached to solicit support for the ASADAs from A Drop of Water (Una Gota de Agua), a program offered by the National University and experts at the National Technical University.

In addition, the ASADA leaders will met on October 25 in the multipurpose facility in Nosara, for which each representative must bring a technical overview of their respective ASADA, with data on monthly electric costs, the state of pump systems and distribution networks and the capacity of wells, among other details.

Number of Users of Nosara’s ASADAs