Constitutional Court orders AyA to provide drinking water to Bribri community after 30 years of waiting. Judges give Acueductos 12 months to provide a solution for this community in Meleruk.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Chamber has ordered the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AyA) to find a solution that will allow the inhabitants of the Bribri indigenous community in Meleruk to have drinking water.
This was stated in Resolution Nº 06043 – 2025, which gave AyA 12 months to provide the villagers with this liquid.
The decision was challenged by 280 people living in the area.
The complainants claimed that they had an artesian system that supplied them with water. However, the hydraulic pump was damaged and since then they have had no access to drinking water.
“They say that for 30 years the community has been trying to get an aqueduct built, for which AyA has carried out studies but has never taken action to build one,” the Chamber said.
Studies
It was also explained that, despite requests, AyA would not even hand over the studies carried out in the past by the Ministry of Health, which showed the illnesses suffered by the inhabitants as a result of not having access to drinking water.
At the moment, they have to pay 20,000 ($40) colones a week to bring water to the community by truck.
The neighbours add that, in 2023, AyA occasionally supplied water with tankers, but the measure ‘did not last long’, according to La Sala.
They also claim that the schools are unhealthy because of the lack of water, according to field studies carried out by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP).
Hedberto Buitrago, of the Meleruk Aqueduct Committee, submitted a request to the Talamanca town council on 8 June to assess the flow rates and heights of the springs found.
However, the local government referred the matter to the AyA, which produced a report in November of the same year.
In January 2024, they had access to information indicating that there were four water springs at a distance of five kilometres from the Meleruk school.
They then appealed to the Chamber, which declared the appeal partially admissible.
A response was requested from Aqueduct and Sewerage, and through the press department it was stated that:
“We will continue to develop an alternative solution for this community, with the conviction that we are working to ensure that drinking water reaches every corner of our country”, it said by email in response to an enquiry from El Observador.
