•         Water Supply System for the Mid-river Basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities (PAACUME) consists of new infrastructures in the canal to automate gates, expansion and cladding, 55 kilometers of canal; Río Piedras Reservoir; dam to generate electric power and transmission and distribution network of 300 kilometers of canals.
• Studies are ready for construction and environmental impact

• Investment of $ 425 million would be financed by the CABEI, plus the $ 75 million from the Government of Costa Rica. Works, in operation by 2022.

 The high demand for water in Guanacaste is a fact that has motivated authorities to implement infrastructure plans to ensure it for human consumption and irrigation. The benefit should reach families, communities and productive sectors of the cantons of Santa Cruz, Carrillo and Nicoya.

Through the Water Supply System for the Mid-river Basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities (PAACUME), that should be in operation by 2022, the Government sets conditions to quench the thirst of the Guanacaste people, after years of requesting for State intervention to confront this problem.

The PAACUME consists of a new infrastructure Project in the Western Canal of the Arenal Tempisque Irrigation District, designed to automate the gates in Section I, from the Miguel Pablo Dengo Dam in Cañas to the siphon of the Piedras River; to expand and clad 20 kilometers of Section II, from the Piedras River, where the reservoir will be located, to the Cabuyo River, and the construction of 35 kilometers in Section III, from the Cabuyo River to the community of Palmira in the canton of Carrillo.

The Project also includes the construction of the Piedras River Reservoir, with a water surface of 850 hectares;  the dam´s infrastructure to generate hydroelectric power and the construction of the transmission and distribution network of new 300 kilometers of canals in the cantons of Carrillo, Santa Cruz and Nicoya.

The project´s progress shows that construction and environmental impact studies are ready.

The status of the Project was part of a rendering of accounts submitted by President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera on July 22, at the Coopeguanacaste facilities in Santa Cruz, in the framework of the commemoration of the 193 anniversary of the Annexation of the Nicoya Party to Costa Rica.

The PAACUME Project requires an investment of $ 425 million that would be financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), plus the $ 75 million to be provided by the Government of Costa Rica.

“This is an essential project that Costa Rica begins and must continue to build to provide a comprehensive response to a territory that –like others in the country–   requires a strong and articulated interaction within the communities, productive sectors, local governments and public institutions to work thoughtfully and with a forward-looking approach. We have developed the PAACUME Project with transparency and taking into account the people of Guanacaste, to whom we have explained its components and scope, to guarantee water for irrigation and human consumption in a sustainable balance, climate change adaptation as well as generating employment, wellbeing and productivity”, President Solis Rivera said.

Water of the new canals will envisage four uses: 16.5 cubic meters per second for agricultural irrigation; 2 cubic meters for human consumption; 1.5 cubic meters for irrigation in tourist areas that allows the recovery of aquifers, and 36 Gigawatts of annual hydroelectric generation.

“The Arenal Tempisque Irrigation District (DRAT) generates between $150 and $200 million to Costa Rica annually. The Project´s new works will increase the irrigation areas, will double the number of agricultural producers benefited and will improve water use efficiency”, said Patricia Quiros, Manager of the National Service of Groundwater, Irrigation and Drainage Service (SENARA).

The 18,800 hectares that will benefit from irrigation in Carrillo, Santa Cruz and Nicoya can be used to grow rice, sugar, grass, fish farming, citrus, papaya, pineapple, onion, cotton, watermelon, dairy and fattening cattle.

 Water for human consumption would be delivered by the SENARA to the AyA (Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers) in Sardinal, Filadelfia, Santa Cruz and Nicoya. Treatment and final distribution would be the responsibility of this institution.

Water for irrigation in tourist areas, would allow the aquifers of the region to recover, given that a substitution of uses for surface water for this purpose is encouraged.

It is expected that works are contracted in 2018, begin in 2019 and are concluded by 2022.

ABOUT PAACUME Tempisque River

• Northern Pacific Integral Program to Supply Water to Guanacaste, or PIAAG, managed by the SENARA.
• Cost: financed $425 million
• Irrigation: 18,800 hectares.
• Project plan of action:

2017: delivery of construction, environmental impact studies and proposed bills.

2018: Works contracts

2019: Constructions starting

2022: Constructions delivery

• Length

850 hectares of flood in the Piedras River Reservoir.

55 kilometers of the western canal, from the Reservoir to Palmira.

300 kilometers of transmission and distribution network.

• Beneficiaries: more than 1,000 farmers.
• Cantons benefited:

Bagaces, with the Reservoir Santa Cruz, Carrillo and Nicoya, with irrigation.