Guanacaste is the province with the most water difficulties in Costa Rica, and the beach community of Playa Potrero is currently one of the most affected. As recently reported by the Costa Rica Star, police officers took the local water utility office in Playa Potrero by force in accordance to a court order, an act that scared neighbors of this once peaceful beach town. Politicians have been quick to weigh in on the matter.

The water utility in Playa Potrero was under the control of a community development organization known by the Spanish acronym of ASADA. In the past, ASADA has allegedly engaged in a bit of civil disobedience over certain administrative decisions. At the heart of the conflict are claims by the national water utility Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (Spanish initials AyA) that ASADA lacks the ability to provide water to major luxury real estate development projects such as Las Catalinas. The ASADA has the support of local residents in this regard and took AyA to court in order to block them, which resulted in an unfavorable judgment.

Until a couple of decades ago, Playa Potrero was home to families who mostly subsisted off farming and fishing. Tourists then found this gorgeous beach, and some of them would later become expatriate residents who certainly were not expected to attract the attention of major residential projects such as Las Catalinas. They also certainly did not expect to experience conflicts such as Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica) being ordered to storm the offices of the local water utility a few weeks ago, kicking doors open and taking locks apart.

Presidential candidate Johnny Araya of the ruling National Liberation political party issued a press release on the matter, which was published by online news site Primero en Noticias of Guanacaste. Candidate Araya believes that control of the water utility in Playa Potrero should remain in the community.

Legislator Yolanda Acuna Castro of the Citizens’ Action political party also weighed in with her opinion on the matter to Primero en Noticias. She strongly condemned the raid on the ASADA, and she called attention to the police resources wasted on the action.

The ASADA has attempted to take back the water utility offices in Playa Potrero despite the standing court order, and this act of civil disobedience resulted in yet another raid. The community is now mounting night watches as an effort to avoid a future raid, and they plan to sound the church bells and call up all neighbors to possibly block police work under the doctrine of occupation with strength in numbers.

Not everyone in Playa Potrero is entirely happy with the work of the ASADA with regard to water management. A neighbor filed a complaint before Sala Cuarta (Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court), claiming that constant water outages impinged her right to receive public utilities that she had paid for. Despite the fact that water shortages and outages in Guanacaste are quite common, the investigation surrounding the case unveiled even more anomalies that prompted the AyA takeover.

Still, jaded residents of Guanacaste believe that it all comes down to money. It does not matter if luxury developments such as Las Catalinas are completed or if the government builds a residential neighborhood for the poor, which the current administration has repeatedly accomplished in Guanacaste; the bottom line is that more housing is coming to Playa Potrero and the surrounding communities. This will require more water and better management, and it will also result in the cost of water connections and monthly bills going up; but what about the salaries of ASADA managers in charge of the utility? Those will have to go up as well.

Playa Potrero is an example of the “Paradise Lost” or growing pains construct that the Costa Rica Star has previously reported on with a look at the transformation of Puerto Viejo in Limon, a once-sleepy community turned into a tourist and expatriate haven where crime and complaints of underdevelopment are commonplace. Longtime residents, including expats, are quick to cry “Paradise Lost;” but, in the end, everyone ends up paying the price.