Santa Teresa, Mal País and Montezuma sit at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, in the province of Puntarenas. For years they were remote surf and backpacker towns. Today they are some of the most sought-after places in Costa Rica for small hotels, hostels, restaurants, wellness businesses and homes. The growth happened on a narrow strip of land between the beach and the hills, along roads that were not built for it.
All three towns are in the district of Cóbano, which has its own local government, the Concejo Municipal de Distrito de Cóbano. Construction permits are processed there, not in a distant cantonal capital.
Santa Teresa and Mal País: busy businesses on tight lots
Along the main road you find a dense line of small hotels, cabinas, hostels, restaurants and shops, with homes and villas going up the hill behind them. Wastewater problems here usually come from three things:
Growth without redesign. A hostel that started with eight beds now has twenty. A house became a restaurant with a few rooms upstairs. Under Decree 42075-S-MINAE, increasing the authorized flow of a system means meeting the requirements again for the new flow, and above 190 cubic meters of drinking water per month a septic tank is no longer allowed on its own. At that point, a treatment plant approved under Decree 39887-S-MINAE is required, with operational reports filed with the Ministry of Health.
Not enough green space. Drain fields must go in private green areas, never under parking, driveways, decks or pavers, and keep 1 meter from property lines and buildings. On a lot that is already full of rooms and parking, the drain field is often what got squeezed, and it is the first thing to fail.
Kitchens. Restaurants and hostel kitchens send grease to the system. The rules require a two-chamber grease trap for dishwashing water, cleaned at least every three months, and more often in a busy kitchen. If your system already smells or overflows, start with our guide on septic smells and overflows.
For a growing hotel, our guide on boutique hotel wastewater treatment explains the full permit and reporting path.
The hills: slope and pumping
Above the main road, ocean-view lots are steep. Decree 42075 does not allow drain field trenches on slopes steeper than 30 %, requires the trenches to be level, and sets a 2-meter setback from the top of slopes steeper than 25 %. On these lots, the drain field location should be fixed before the house design, and sometimes a small pumping station is needed to move treated water to the only area that qualifies.
Montezuma: streams, waterfalls and steep ground
Montezuma is smaller, greener and closer to water. Streams and rivers run down to the sea through the village, and much of the land around it is steep. That brings extra limits:
- Rivers, streams and springs have protection areas under the Water Law (Law 276) and the Forestry Law, and Decree 42075 makes drain fields respect them.
- Discharging septic tank effluent to a stream, or to a storm drain, is prohibited.
- If treated water must go to a stream, the project needs a discharge permit from MINAE's Water Directorate, a treatment system that meets the limits of Decree 33601-MINAE-S, and regular reports.
In short: near water, the wastewater design decides what you can build, not the other way around.
Before you buy or build here
Water and wastewater are the two questions to settle before you sign. Confirm that the local water operator, which in many rural Costa Rican communities is an ASADA (a community-run water association), can issue a water availability letter for the lot. Check where a drain field could legally go, and whether there is a stream or spring nearby. Our guides on buying land: water and wastewater checks and wastewater permits for building a house cover each step.
How we help in Santa Teresa, Mal País and Montezuma
Ingeniería de las Aguas is an engineering firm based in Palmares, Alajuela, and works in Puntarenas, including the Nicoya Peninsula. We:
- design and build improved septic systems and drain fields from percolation test results;
- design, build, upgrade and rehabilitate treatment plants for hotels, hostels and restaurants;
- design pumping stations and stormwater drainage for hillside lots;
- handle permits with the Ministry of Health, MINAE, SETENA and the local council;
- prepare operational analyses and reports and supervise construction.
If you are comparing areas on the peninsula, see our page on Nosara.
Send us the location, what the property is used for and how many people it serves at full occupancy, with a few photos, on WhatsApp, or use the contact page.