This weekend in Guanacaste, Fuerza Publica officers from precincts in Liberia joined students from the local Night School in a special operation. About 1,500 members of the community walked with the officers as they set up a perimeter and conducted a sweep along the banks of the Liberia River. Together the neighbors and the officers helped to get rid of an unsightly element in Costa Rica: the accumulation of garbage and debris in our rivers.

The clean-up operation was coordinated by the municipality of Liberia, and Fuerza Publica provided some of its finest officers to help. Also involved in the river rescue were representatives of the burgeoning private business sector in Liberia.

The operation, codenamed “Let’s Save Liberia”, was successful: more than 50 garden-sized plastic bags filled with all kinds of trash and discarded items were collected by the cleaning force. Among the items confiscated by the officers and their helpers were: plastic bottles, washing machine parts, televisions, shoes, toys, cardboard boxes, and more. Liberia is going through rapid development, and the effects of the population growth are already taking a heavy toll on the rivers.

According to the official press release by Fuerza Publica, the young students involved in the cleanup were very satisfied with the results. Commissioner Rafael Angel Araya, regional director in Guanacaste, explained that Fuerza Publica is committed to participating in this type of activities in Costa Rica:

“Our mission is to provide security, as well as to protect the rights and freedoms of the people and the community; environmental safety is part of the overall public safety plan.”

In the past, The Costa Rica Star has reported on the efforts by the Ministry of Environment to assign heavy fines and penalties to river polluters, particularly in the Central Valley and the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (GAM in Spanish). This initiative will launch in the GAM in June, simultaneously with other new measures in honor of World Environment Day. Along with the new strict controls, a plan to monitor the rivers will be implemented.

According to a study recently published by the National University (UNA), the waters of 13 out of 18 rivers and creeks in the Central Valley contain high contamination levels; harmful enough to endanger human life, and even more dangerous to wildlife.