The Icoder, the government agency that administers the La Sabana park, explains that this lake is supplied with rainwater, the reason why it is dehydrated these days.
In not so long past, the lake was filled with drinking water by the Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) – the water and sewer utility and at no cost. Not a colon. This went on for a couple of decades.
In exchange, the AyA, in a 1992 deal with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), it would not be billed for electricity to run the pumps at the Fuente de la Hispanidad fountain in San Pedro.
I always questioned this arrangement since the ICE did not, does not, own the park. Yes, the park is a public space and ICE is a public company, so is the AyA…but I digress.
Under pressure to not waste potable water, in 2012 the AyA decided to break its deal.
So, during the dry season, the lake becomes dry, filling up again during the rainy season. But, this year, given that the drought has been much worse than in the past and the lower than usual rain of the last rainy season, the lake is almost without water.
My photos taken yesterday, Thursday, March 28 (2019), confirm this.
Now compare to photos I took of the lake a decade ago, in 2009. It was a beautiful place to visit during the summer or dry months. When I lived in Rohrmose, I use to walk the entire park every morning, a few times a week would take my dogs. Now, with the dry lake, no incentive to make the strip from Santa Ana to walk the park, less walk my dogs there.
