American Expatriate Costa Rica

Clandestine dump in Santa Ana contaminates the environment

Patricia Segovia, one of the complainants against an open-air clandestine dump, located in Santa Ana, confirmed to CRHoy.com that the complaint process for contamination was reported since 2015 before the different authorities and, on the World Environment Day, the complaint escalated before the Ombudsman.

As observed in the video recorded by the neighbors, with the presence of notaries, they captured what is stated in the complaint: a man, apparently, would be the owner of said property, located in Calle Chinchilla, on the slopes of Alto de Las Palomas, in Santa Ana, and he has accumulated tons of garbage since the complaints were filed in 2015 before the Santaneco municipality.

The map has a legend that says that the land is protected by the Forest Law 7775 in its article 33. According to the villagers, they have seen more than 100 carts per month.

It immediately leads to a ravine and very close to a condominium called Paseo del Sol, we arrived with a notary. The video recorded with a drone was made 15 days ago, and it was edited. On the other hand, today José Gutiérrez, neighbor, filed a complaint with the Ombudsman’s Office for the inaction of the municipality,”

added Segovia.

However, for the local government this issue has them with their hands tied. According to Gerardo Oviedo, mayor of the city of Santa Ana, has acted on the matter and states that

it is unfortunate that the municipalities can not act more about it, as we are administrative bodies, we report to the Environmental Court, the Ministry of Health for disobeying to authority, among others. Unfortunately these procedures are very slow.”

In addition, the local governor assured that there may be more than 60 notifications against the owner of the land.

crhoy.com