QCOSTARICA (by Roberto Acuña Ávalos, Vozdeguanacaste) – Since February, the Pali supermarket chain, owned and operated by Walmart in Costa Rica, stopped dumping treated water into the Lagarto River and now will be using the water to irrigate a garden located behind the warehouse.
The new water system comes after several months of conflict with Samara residents, who alleged that the water coming out of Pali’s drainage tube into the Largarto River was dirty and smelled bad.
Yolanda Fernandez, manager of corporate affairs for Walmart, affirmed that the company never polluted the river, but they preferred to improve their relationship with the people of Samara.
“It’s a way to respond to the community of Samara with that extra mile. Although Pali has not polluted the waters of the Lagarto River in any way and water samples always came out within the permitted ranges, we wanted to show that we have a policy of being good neighbors and we decided to invest in this system,” she wrote via email.
The Voice of Guanacaste tried to find out the price of the new treatment system and photograph it, but it was not allowed due to the policy of Walmart.