by Rod Hughes

Water service that had been cut by human stupidity and a landslide for four days was at last restored to nearly half million residents Sunday night. But the memory of having to scrounge water is bitter, especially to the residents of Coronado and Desamparados who had service restored only late Sunday night.

Some areas at least received water for a few hours to replenish home tanks and buckets before being shut down again. Others, like the above-mentioned suburbs, did not even get that. The CEO of the Water and Sewer Institute (A y A) Ricardo Sancho blandly promised that all would be normal by Monday afternoon, meaning that higher communities would be plagued by midday cessations of water service.

The trouble started early last week when a hamfisted backhoe operator nicked a main pipeline from a reservoir at Pitaya outside of Cartago. That was no sooner fixed than it was discovered that a landslide had severed an even larger water main at Coris outside Cartago. The damage to that main was even greater than the one that preceeded it.

The daily newspaper Al Dia reported some bitterness among residents, who are accustomed to the irresponsibility and inefficiency of government agencies generally. Costa Ricans, although notorious litterbugs, tend to be one of the personally cleanest nationalities on earth and become most upset when they cannot have their morning shower.

In the Los Guidos section of San Miguel de Desamparados (at the end of the water mains) a pipe broke and some grateful residents immediately began bathing, Al Dia reported. (Where that water came from the paper did not explain, since the faucets in homes were only making sucking noises.) Flor Cascante of Coronado told the paper that she and her neighbors felt A y A was playing around with them.

One of the problems facing the country is that A y A has no emergency capacity for using alternate water mains in case one is broken. The first administration of Oscar Arias mounted an initiative to overhaul the water system in the Central Valley which was in scandalous shape. At that time Arias predicted that potable water could be guaranteed until the year 2000. So it proved but, eight years past that limit, little has been done other than than to maintain the status quo and sometime even that ineptly.

by Rod Hughes

The heads of political blocs in the Legislative Assembly are all agreed that elimination of the 97.50 colon-per-liter tax on diesel fuel but only if the gasoline tax is not increased. Thie addition of the diesel tax to gasoline would have served a dual purpose for the Arias Administration—as an anti-inflationary measure while assuring that gasoline consumption for private cars would have diminished. This would help the country’s balance of trade.

But the higher gasoline tax, on top of increased prices for petreolum fuels, would have been wildly unpopular with motorists. Oscar Nunez, floor leader of the administration’s National Liberation Party, admitted that the original plan was not “politically viable,” according to the daily La Nacion, and some other way would have to be found to fill the budgetary “hole” left by the elimination of the diesel tax.

Like most modern nations, Costa Rica moves its produce, as well as all retail products, to market by diesel-powered truck. Moreover, the high price of the fuel has placed a pinch on bus lines in a country where public transport is vital. Cutting out the diesel tax might avoid a hike in fares which would severely limit the mobility of the poor. But, since most taxis here have gasoline engines, this sector of the public transport picture would be hurt. Taxi owners also have a habit of striking by blocking public thoroughfares, which they have done before for far less cause than higher fuel prices.

Nunez speculated that two ways to fill the budgetary shortfall would be cut spending on non-social programs—if any can be found. Another alternative would be raising the exit tax at airports, already $26. But, along with the increasing airline fares, this would hurt one of the prime sources of foreign exchange, tourism. (Past administrations have done this. It never seems to occur to politcos that you can milk tourists many times, but you can only skin them once…)

The lawmakers are being yanked this way and that. Friday the Chamber of Transporters (bus ines) threatened a general strike if the diesel tax was not removed. The Liberatian Movement, characteristically backing less government involvement, are urging the slashing of programs within the budget and are firmly opposed to the increased gas tax which would nearly double the price of premium. Libertarian deputy Ovidio Aguero snidely suggested that the administration pay fewer consultants and use the money to offset the diesel tax shortfall, a reference to the administration’s use of private donations such as the $2 million given by BCIE, an international bank.

Political sarcasm aside, even within parties deputies are divided in their counsels. Citizen Action Party (PAC) deputy told La Nacion that he isn’t opposed to adding the tax to gas while his fellow PAC representative, Francisco Molina, is vehemently opposed. And some are making political hay. Without offering any solution, Social Christian Unity deputy Jorge Eduardo Sanchez let it be known that he would support the bus lobby in congress as well as in the streets if they choose to strike.