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[quote=”ticorealtor”] Most other countries don’t have the laws or the standards like the U.S. or some EU countries. [/quote]
Having chosen to live in Costa Rica, your constant whining about how superior the US “standards” supposedly is really quite tiresome TicoRealtor…
Do yourself a favour and Google a few things before you tell us how great it is in the bankrupt “land of the free.”
You’ll find articles like:
[ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-07-sewers-main_N.htm ]
That say interesting things like:
“Local governments across the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems — some of which are more than 100 years old — over the next 10 to 20 years, EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said.”
• In March, 700,000 to 1.3 million gallons of human feces and other waste spilled from a damaged pipe into Grand Lagoon at Panama City Beach, Fla., said Al Shortt, the city’s utilities director.
• In January, about 20 million gallons of sewage flowed into Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill River after a 42-inch pipe ruptured near Reading, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
• Also in January, heavy rain, deteriorating pipes and operator error sent about 5 million gallons of sewage into Northern California’s Richardson and San Francisco bays, EPA documents show.
“The EPA estimates that as many as 5,500 people get sick every year from direct exposure to sewer overflows near beaches. ”
The EPA’s 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis reported the nation’s municipal sewer authorities’ capital needs to meet clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331 billion to $450 billion. Based on that data, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion for the next 20 years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said.
One modernization project alone, in Indianapolis, could cost $1.2 billion. Residents hope the repairs will end years of smelly and unsightly problems along Fall Creek.
“I have walked this area on numerous occasions and could see condoms decorating bushes where the water level had been high (and), feminine hygiene products along the shores, toilet paper hanging in bushes,” said Richard Van Frank, a local environmental activist and retired biochemist.
Que lindo!
Sounds like hell on earth, eh?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPS. And that was in 2008! With all the money that has since been given to “poor little Israel,” and spent on Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya – no doubt the infrastructure is even worse shape …
I think the best point tico realtor made was the remark about the new jacuzzis. The goverment theft is what is most disheartening. Local goverment is the way to go. The politicans familys are here and if they steal and run they can’t take the whole family with them.
Two points: Thank you Scott for bringing attention to the plight of so many of our returned (and returning) Gulf (both) war vets. Their continuing and insidious health issues continue to go almost completely ignored by the U.S. press. As the parent of a returning vet, I am painfully educated on this topic.
Second: The EPA has been systematically gutted by several administrations and is miserably inadequate to deal with or even report on our ongoing environmental issues. Wastewater treatment plants all over the U.S. are aging and in some cases, failing. These issues are dire in the face of stripped municipal budgets in every U.S. state.
I don’t think that “name-calling in the schoolyard” is helpful in the face of so many difficult problems faced by both the U.S. AND Costa Rica. Exactly how does this sort of sniping encourage positive local action in the face of local needs?
[quote=”ticorealtor”]
As for the pollution…. this is normal around the world! [/quote]Absolutely true as the disgusting becomes normal. And if you are looking for proximal causes, it’s overpopulation. As we close in on 7 billion carbon units, most of whom are not sentient, and the “carrying capacity” of the planet is about 9 billion, I am sort of glad I won’t be around for 2080 or 2090 when the crash comes [though I sorrow for my now and future grandchildren].:cry:
Ok Scott.. I have to laugh you are reaching!!
You really don’t believe that countries like Costa Rica have resources in place that will protect the environment like the U.S. or the U.K? At least in the U.S. they had a system in place and many of them have to be updated!
Sure everywhere I go here in Costa Rica has recycling centers!
Sure here in Costa Rica they have laws in place to prevent waste dumping in rivers and the population follows the laws!
Sure here in Costa Rica they have city sewage plants in all municipalities to accommodated the population.
😀Yes the U.S. has their problems but they went threw this growth back in the 70’s that is why I posted the crying Indian. The U.S. had to change culturally! In the U.S. you have a certain amount of pollution but at least you have laws that try to prevent it. Here in Costa Rica it is still a cultural issue with the Ticos and Latin America.
In Paraguay I was involved in a project where we had to go to the Asuncion city dump and helped people that lived in the dump! We had a 12 year old girl showing us around, she was very proud how they collected the plastic but after that nothing happened to the plastic they just collected them and put them in bags. The country didn’t have money for a recycle plant, they didn’t have money to spend on city water plants..(mostly because they just don’t want to pay taxes) etc. This is normal around the world!
So Scott after seeing the post that you posted.. are you saying that these other countries are far better suited to handle the pollution than the U.S. and the UK?
I am not complaining I am just stating the obvious!
Now if you want to pay higher taxes or give a couple of million to your community for a wast plant than prove me wrong!Last year I saw an old stove dumped down the mountain to the river’s edge across from my CR property. It is depressing to consider that the planet is populated with that kind of selfish disregard for the environment. I am nearly moved to physical violence when I see that kind of behavior.
I paddle my sea kayak in the waters around Miami and Key Largo every week end. The trash floating in the water has grown before my eyes over the just the last decade. Used diapers, deck chairs, plastic bags, cans, fishing gear, condoms, the list is endless. Overpopulation is THE problem. But let me once again look in the bright side of the coming societal melt down; it could have a positive side effect of population reduction and definitely WILL have a reducing effect on consumption.
But let me once again look in the bright side of the coming societal melt down; it could have a positive side effect of population reduction and definitely WILL have a reducing effect on consumption.[/quote]
Wow sprite that’s some bright side you have:D
Littering drives me crazy, I just don’t get it!!! I don’t think it’s just over population, most are just brain dead from a lousy diet and hours of garbage TV. That along with no proper instruction growing up. Though the military has everyone beat when it comes to the daily amount of pollution they spew onto our planet.
I have a simple solution to get Ticos, and others here, to stop throwing their trash around.
Let’s get an ad campaign that says:
Each piece of trash you throw in the street, jungle etc. will take a day from your mothers life.
If you get enough people to just think it might be true, then we may have something that is simple and could make a dent in all of this.
Wastewater…???? I’m still thinking here….Again, you need more than a add campaign to motivate people… You need money in this culture! Add campaigns help but if you don’t put money into the infrastructure to recycle the trash than what is the use.
Since people here will do anything to get out of paying taxes there is no tax base to put money into these programs.They do not pay taxes because they know the money gets ripped off / smart. They do not have the guts to overthrow the regime of thieves and whores that prostitute the goverment funds for personal gaines. This reminds me of the pre Obama era where the US was run by the status quo old mans club. Not that its that much differnt but at least we have a preident that is aware of the term “Middle class”
The US now needs tax reform.
The Ticos need to find their cajones and go out to the street and protest the garbage in the fricking river and this is a result of goverment thieves who whore themselves out to the rich guys that have Costa Rica by the short hairs.
Grow a pair my Tico brethern. The Arabs sure have – who would of thunk?
i just saw the most disgusting news clip on pollution in costa rica, committed by none other than the supposedly eco-friendly Tabacon resort, and a neighboring pig farm, who are both dumping raw sewage into the Arenal River and the Las Palmas river.
http://www.teletica.com/videos.php
watch the clip titled “aguas negras siembran polemica en San Carlos” –it will absolutely make you sick and disgusted. and to think next week there will be thousands of people putting their lives at risk by swimming in these two rivers. i’ve already written to Tabacon to express my outrage. what else can we do???
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