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Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Constitution of Costa Rica (1949)

Title V, Article 50:

“The State will procure the greatest well-being to all the inhabitants of the country, organizing and stimulating production and the most adequate distribution [reparto] of the wealth.

All persons have the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment. For that, they are legitimated to denounce the acts that infringe this right and to claim reparation for the damage caused.

The State will guarantee, will defend and will preserve this right. The Law will determine the responsibilities and corresponding sanctions.

Every person has the human, basic and non-renounceable right of access to potable water, as an essential material for life. Water is an asset of the nation, essential to protect such human right. Its use, protection, sustainability, conservation and exploitation will be governed by that which the law created for these effects establishes[,] and the supply of potable water for consumption by persons and the populations will have priority.”