liquid waste in the rivers, and the recurring problem of rivers and streams overflowing their banks, which has often caused serious tragedies. When the municipality decided to tackle these issues, there was no organized opposition but also no organized support for it doing so. It was unusual for municipalities to take action on such matters, so while San José’s efforts did not violate any formal restrictions on its authority, they did run against stereotypical views of municipal responsibilities.

To pursue its interest in these environmental quality-of-life issues, the municipality of San José initiated a series of activities in 1991 and 1992, of which the following four stand out: In 1991 it proposed a Project for the Recuperation of the Río Torres. This project focused on controlling the disposal of solid and liquid wastes in the Río Torres, a major upper-basin river and one of the most polluted rivers in the Tárcoles basin. The Río Torres project was assisted with funding from France as part of the CIUDAGUA program. Also in 1991, in another unusual action for a municipality, San José issued a municipal policy directive giving industries located in the canton 24 months to begin treating their liquid waste. As a result of that directive, a pilot plan was launched by the Municipality and the Chamber of Industry involving a group of businesses that were major polluters according to data from AyA. When the pilot program ended in 1994, there had been a significant reduction in industrial waste (Rodríguez, 1997).

In 1992, the Municipality of San José adopted an Urban Control Plan to regulate land use and urban growth, which included a series of environmental provisions to protect surface water, aquifers, and recharge areas.

By this time, though, officials and staff of the Municipality had come to recognize that these environmental matters could not be resolved by actions in only one canton. The situation would have to be approached with a broader view, one that included the entire Tárcoles basin. Visits were made to each of the other 35 municipalities in the river basin area to promote their participation and to set priorities. In August 1992, the Municipality of San José organized a seminar titled, “The Río Grande de Tárcoles River Basin: Looking Toward the Future,” in which a large audience participated in discussions and defined some basic guidelines for coordination to confront the immense task of recuperating the river basin.

The August 1992 seminar’s most important achievement was its involvement of many basin stakeholders, including many of the municipalities, private businesses, and civil-society institutions. After the seminar, with continued leadership and support from the Municipality of San José, negotiations began to form the Coordinating Commission for the Río Grande de Tárcoles, the CRGT.

The original members of the commission were:

- A representative from each of the following municipalities:  San José, Heredia, San Rafael de Heredia, Orotina, Alajuela, and Curridabat.

- A representative from each of the following ministries: Environment and Energy, National Planning and Economic Policy, Health, and Science and Technology.

- A representative from each of the following state institutes: National Power and Light Company (CNFL), ICE, and AyA.

- A university representative.

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