Costa Rican Water Contamination: Land Use Responsible for Damaging Environment, Transforming Drinking Water to Unsafe Levels [Study]

Water contamination has been reported in some Costa Rican water sources. This is according to a new study, which attributed decades-long urban development such as land use to damaging the environment and transforming the country's drinking water to unsafe levels. Water pollution not only threatens aquatic wildlife but also local communities.

The findings came after scientists collected water samples from different bodies of water across the Central American nation. Results show the samples contain increased concentrations of nitrate, a chemical compound, that when exceeding normal levels in drinking water supply, can lead to adverse health effects among consumers.

In the past, nitrate poisoning has been reported among animals after the consumption of significant amounts of nitrates from plants or water through ingestion. What makes nitrate intoxication dangerous is how it affects blood in carrying oxygen inside the body and can cause the potentially life-threatening condition methemoglobinemia, also called the "blue baby syndrome."

Costa Rican Water Contamination

The Costa Rica water contamination mentioned earlier did not occur overnight. In fact, it was a product of four decades of urbanization through land use, according to the study published on the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences in July 2023. This anthropogenic change transformed the once green forested lands, pasture areas, and coffee plantations to urban developments.

While such urban progress is also an indicator of economic progress in Costa Rica, the replacement of green spaces with concrete also entails the destruction of the local environment, including ecosystems.

However, the 2023 study led by a scientist from the University of Texas at Arlington determined that water sources in some areas of Costa Rica have potentially reached unsafe levels due to nitrate concentrations.

High Nitrate Levels

The high nitrate levels found in different bodies of water in Costa Rica have raised an alarming reality, that it is only a matter of time before water contamination can be felt in local animal habitats and human populations.

The determination of high nitrate concentrations was a result of sampling from water samples taken at various depths, ranging from rivers, springs, wells, and wastewater plants. Samples were also taken in lowlands, midlevel areas, and even in topographies near volcanoes.

In the research paper, the authors measured that nitrate concentrations reached 70 milligrams per liter in some urban areas. The findings are concerning since the reported maximum nitrate level in Costa Rica and around the world is 10 milligrams per liter or lower. This standard nitrate level is considered safe for everyone, the Minnesota Department of Health says.

What is Nitrate Poisoning?

Nitrate is invisible to the naked eye and it is for this reason consumers of a local drinking water supply could be unaware if the water is safe to consume or not, with the latter condition can lead to nitrate poisoning.

Nitrate poisoning, which is more common among ruminants, is caused by the ingestion of excess nitrates from plant (feed or forage) sources, water sources, or fertilizers containing nitrate, according to the MSD Veterinary Manual.