IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jenvss/v8y2018i4d10.1007_s13412-018-0504-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Water quality management through community engagement in Costa Rica

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Shahady

    (Lynchburg College)

  • Helen Boniface

    (Lynchburg College)

Abstract

Concerns about stream water quality are increasing in Latin America. Poor sanitation infrastructure coupled with a high demand from agricultural development, recreational use, drinking, and sanitation creates a strong need to balance water quality and quantity to meet these demands. Wastewater from various levels of development combined with changes in climate and rainfall patterns has created unique watershed management challenges. Ecologically, tropical river watersheds with their unique hydrology (wet and dry seasons), steep slopes, characteristically long shape, and rapidly changing life zones present management challenges. Sociologically, weak overall protective legislation, streambed manipulation, withdrawals, minimal wastewater treatment, and beliefs water is abundant have produced a lax attitude for protection. To assess these concerns, we studied three river watersheds within a biological corridor along a northern Pacific slope in Costa Rica. We characterized baseline river water quality and then paired biological and chemical parameters to develop an index of water quality. Results suggest agricultural inputs and withdrawal, greywater urban inputs, community water use, and natural features of the watershed including climate concerns must be managed together to improve water quality and provide adequate water resources. Community involvement, along with a water quality index useable by the general public, was a key to the overall success of the project.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Shahady & Helen Boniface, 2018. "Water quality management through community engagement in Costa Rica," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 488-502, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:8:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s13412-018-0504-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s13412-018-0504-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13412-018-0504-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13412-018-0504-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mesfin M. Mekonnen & Markus Pahlow & Maite M. Aldaya & Erika Zarate & Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2015. "Sustainability, Efficiency and Equitability of Water Consumption and Pollution in Latin America and the Caribbean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-27, February.
    2. Ballestero, M. & Reyes, V. & Astorga, Y., 2007. "Groundwater in Central America: its importance, development and use, with particular reference to its role in irrigated agriculture," IWMI Books, Reports H040044, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Pagiola, Stefano, 2008. "Payments for environmental services in Costa Rica," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 712-724, May.
    4. Van V. Miller & Charles T. Crespy & Kurt H. Loess & José A. Renau, 2010. "Western hemispheric trade agreements and sustainability: Lesson from butterflies, hummingbirds, and salty anchovies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(4), pages 220-228.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Langhans, Kelley E. & Schmitt, Rafael J.P. & Chaplin-Kramer, Rebecca & Anderson, Christopher B. & Vargas Bolaños, Christian & Vargas Cabezas, Fermin & Dirzo, Rodolfo & Goldstein, Jesse A. & Horangic, , 2022. "Modeling multiple ecosystem services and beneficiaries of riparian reforestation in Costa Rica," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Edwin Muchapondwa & Jesper Stage & Eric Mungatana & Pushpam Kumar, 2018. "Lessons from Applying Market-Based Incentives in Watershed Management," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(03), pages 1-41, July.
    2. Patrick Bottazzi & David Crespo & Harry Soria & Hy Dao & Marcelo Serrudo & Jean Paul Benavides & Stefan Schwarzer & Stephan Rist, 2014. "Carbon Sequestration in Community Forests: Trade-offs, Multiple Outcomes and Institutional Diversity in the Bolivian Amazon," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 105-131, January.
    3. Mudaca, Joao Daniel & Tsuchiya, Toshiyuki & Yamada, Masaaki & Onwona-Agyeman, Siaw, 2015. "Household participation in Payments for Ecosystem Services: A case study from Mozambique," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 21-27.
    4. Pagiola, Stefano & Rios, Ana R. & Arcenas, Agustin, 2008. "Can the poor participate in payments for environmental services? Lessons from the Silvopastoral Project in Nicaragua," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 299-325, June.
    5. Zhang, Qi & Bilsborrow, Richard E. & Song, Conghe & Tao, Shiqi & Huang, Qingfeng, 2019. "Rural household income distribution and inequality in China: Effects of payments for ecosystem services policies and other factors," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 114-127.
    6. Pistorius, Till & Schaich, Harald & Winkel, Georg & Plieninger, Tobias & Bieling, Claudia & Konold, Werner & Volz, Karl-Reinhard, 2012. "Lessons for REDDplus: A comparative analysis of the German discourse on forest functions and the global ecosystem services debate," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 4-12.
    7. Walter Falcon & Gracia Hadiwidjaja & Ryan Edwards & Matthew Higgins & Rosamond Naylor & Sudarno Sumarto, 2022. "Using Conditional Cash Payments to Prevent Land-Clearing Fires: Cautionary Findings from Indonesia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Vaissière, Anne-Charlotte & Quétier, Fabien & Calvet, Coralie & Levrel, Harold & Wunder, Sven, 2020. "Biodiversity offsets and payments for environmental services: Clarifying the family ties," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Börner, Jan & Wunder, Sven & Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Sheila & Tito, Marcos Rügnitz & Pereira, Ligia & Nascimento, Nathalia, 2010. "Direct conservation payments in the Brazilian Amazon: Scope and equity implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1272-1282, April.
    10. Quiroga, Sonia & Suárez, Cristina & Hernanz, Virginia & Aguiño, José Evelio & Fernández-Manjarrés, Juan F., 2024. "Analysing post-conflict policies to enhance socio-ecological restoration among black communities in Southern Colombia: Cacao cropping as a win–win strategy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Rossella Vito & Alessandro Pagano & Ivan Portoghese & Raffaele Giordano & Michele Vurro & Umberto Fratino, 2019. "Integrated Approach for Supporting Sustainable Water Resources Management of Irrigation Based on the WEFN Framework," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(4), pages 1281-1295, March.
    12. Juan Miguel Benito-Ostolaza & Nuria Osés-Eraso, 2013. "Incentives to give up resource extraction and avoid the tragedy of the commons," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 1305, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    13. Cranford, Matthew & Mourato, Susana, 2014. "Credit-Based Payments for Ecosystem Services: Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 503-520.
    14. Legrand, Thomas & Froger, Géraldine & Le Coq, Jean-François, 2013. "Institutional performance of Payments for Environmental Services: An analysis of the Costa Rican Program," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 115-123.
    15. Kisaka, Lily & Obi, Ajuruchukwu, 2015. "Farmers’ Preferences for Management Options as Payment for Environmental Services Scheme," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(3), pages 1-22, September.
    16. Driss Ezzine-de-Blas & Sven Wunder & Manuel Ruiz-Pérez & Rocio del Pilar Moreno-Sanchez, 2016. "Global Patterns in the Implementation of Payments for Environmental Services," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, March.
    17. Kwayu, Emmanuel J. & Sallu, Susannah M. & Paavola, Jouni, 2014. "Farmer participation in the equitable payments for watershed services in Morogoro, Tanzania," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 1-9.
    18. Ekbom, Anders & Brown, Gardner M. & Sterner, Thomas, 2009. "Muddy Waters: Soil Erosion and Downstream Externalities," Working Papers in Economics 341, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    19. Clements, Tom & John, Ashish & Nielsen, Karen & An, Dara & Tan, Setha & Milner-Gulland, E.J., 2010. "Payments for biodiversity conservation in the context of weak institutions: Comparison of three programs from Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1283-1291, April.
    20. Haoyang Chen & Wenbo Cai, 2024. "Multi-Scale Analysis of Water Purification Ecosystem Service Flow in Taihu Basin for Land Management and Ecological Compensation," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:8:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s13412-018-0504-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.