• Employers in the area and 'Promejoras' association seeking to build a water sewage treatment plant in the district
• Hotel Tamarindo 'Diria' will donate the land for this project.
Hoteliers, shopkeepers, the association 'Promejoras', the Tourism Chamber of Guanacaste (CATURGUA) and the community decided to launch a series of actions to restore the image of Tamarindo as a clean beach.
According to CATURGUA the present projects not only are aimed at improving the environment and ecology of the location, but also seeks to erase the district landscape that has been developed in a disorderly manner.
After the last inspection performed by the Ministry of Health in Tamarindo, the authorities found a significant improvement of 310% in the number of commercial establishments that complied with sanitary orders issued from the last health intervention between November and December 2007.
According to the latest assessment, an 80.83% of a total of 120 commercial establishments inspected, including food shops, bars, restaurants, stores, hotels and condominiums, abided with the terms imposed by health authorities in health-related adjustments, mainly in terms of food manipulation, improvements in physical infrastructure and buildings with the handling of sewage and wastewater.
The inspection was carried out between March and April with regional and central staff that determined 66 new establishments joined the group of commercial establishments who made corrections and were up to date with sanitary regulations. Only 15 are pending with the date and 8 were closed.
During its first visit, health authorities identified only 31 establishments with physical and sanitary conditions suitable to operate, whilst the final report of May 2008 shows an update total of 97 commercial establishments that implemented changes and improvements in their infrastructure, food manipulation, cleaning, extending its septic tanks and wastewater management facilities, among others. This group is composed of 24 food shops, bars and restaurants, 44 hotels and condominiums and 29 commercial sites in general.
Although in Tamarindo there is an installed base of 240 registered businesses, the authorities concentrated their primary efforts in monitoring and evaluating an initial sample of 120, whom 43% (52) correspond to condominiums and hotels, 32% (38) to small food shops, bars and restaurants and 25% (30) to trade in general.
The remaining 50% will also be integrated in the inspection and evaluation process performed on a permanent basis by the Health sector of Santa Cruz, led by Dr. Juan Luis Sanchez with support from other officials in the 'Chorotegan' region.
These results show that there is willingness on the part of residents and businessmen in Tamarindo for solving the current problems specifically with the handling of major sewage and wastewater," said the local director of health.
For its' part Mauricio Mauricio Cespedes, chief executive of the Tourism Chamber of Guanacaste (CATURGUA) said that great efforts have been made by health authorities with the proper inspections, monitoring and control for hotels and commercial establishments, making sure they meet the appropriate corrections.
