Water wells and water concessions in Costa Rica: how the permits work

Owning your own water source sounds simple: buy land, hire a rig, drill. In Costa Rica it works differently. Rivers, springs and aquifers are public property, and the state decides who may drill, where, and how much water they may take. That control sits with the Water Directorate (Dirección de Agua, or DA) of MINAE, the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The DA also acts as a single window that brings in the views of AyA (the national water and sewer utility) and SENARA (the national groundwater and irrigation agency).

This guide explains the path from an empty lot to a well you can legally use. It is general information based on the regulations in force in November 2026. Every property is different, and the official forms change, so always confirm the current requirements with the DA before you start.

Two permits, not one

The most common misunderstanding among foreign buyers is thinking that a drilling permit lets you use the water. It does not.

1. The drilling permit lets a registered company drill an exploratory well. Under Decree 43053-MINAE, the drilling regulation published in September 2021, every drilling permit is granted for exploration purposes (article 7).
2. The water concession is the right to take a set flow of water, from a set point, for a set use. It comes after the well has been drilled, tested and studied.

You apply for both at the same time, through SIPECO, the DA's online permit system. But the concession is decided only after the technical work is done.

Step 1: the drilling permit

The owner or holder of the land files the request together with the concession application (article 18). The main requirements (article 19) are:

• the online form signed by the owner, by the legal representative of the drilling company and by the responsible geologist, stating the intended water use and any nearby wells or water bodies;
• a registry certificate and the cadastral plan (plano catastrado) of the property, issued no more than three months earlier;
• proof of legal standing if the owner is a company (personería jurídica), which applies to most foreign buyers who hold land through a Costa Rican corporation;
• a georeferenced file of the drilling point in the national CRTM05 projection, with GPS accuracy of about five meters;
• the applicant, the driller and the geologist must be up to date with the tax authority, the social security fund (CCSS) and the DA itself.

The DA looks at aquifer restrictions, the demonstrated need for water and the distances to other wells and water bodies required by the Water Law. Once the file is complete, the regulation gives it seven days to decide and assign a well number (article 21). You cannot drill inside the protection areas of rivers, streams and springs (article 16).

After approval, drilling must start within a month of notification. Extensions are requested at least ten business days in advance, and the well can be moved up to 20 meters from the approved point; beyond that, you need to notify and wait for a new decision.

Step 2: hire a registered driller

Only companies listed in the DA's National Register of Drillers may drill (article 8). Registration lasts ten years and the register is public. Before you sign anything, check that the company:

• is registered and carries a copy of its license on the rig;
• works with a geologist who will sign the application and the reports;
• uses only biodegradable drilling fluids, never solvents, oils or detergents (article 13);
• commits in writing to deliver the Final Drilling Report on time.

The owner, the driller and the geologist are jointly responsible for meeting the permit conditions (article 22). An informal driller is cheaper on paper, but it can leave you with a hole in the ground and no paperwork to turn it into a legal water source.

Step 3: reports and hydrogeological studies

Once drilling ends, the technical phase decides whether the well can be used:

• Final Drilling Report. Signed by the geologist and filed within ten business days. It records the method, depth, diameter, materials, water levels and fluids used.
• Pumping test. Measures how much water the well can deliver and how the aquifer responds. For public supply or a condominium's own supply it must last at least 72 hours; for other uses, up to 24 hours. Recovery is then measured until the level returns to at least 85 % (article 32).
• Location-specific studies (article 34). The most common are an interference study when the well is less than 100 meters from registered third-party wells or from rivers and streams, and the operational setback of the well, a radius of up to 40 meters reserved for activities related to the well.

These studies follow the methodology MINAE adopted in Acuerdo 60-2012, agreed with AyA and SENARA, and are due within 30 business days of drilling.

On the coast: saltwater intrusion

Near the sea, pumping too hard can pull salt water into the aquifer. Where that risk exists, the DA can require quarterly monitoring of flow, water level, conductivity and chlorides, and it can limit or suspend extraction (article 35). This is a real issue along the Guanacaste coast, where the dry season lasts five to six months and demand peaks in high season. If you are buying in Guanacaste, ask about it before you count on a well.

Step 4: edict, hearings and the concession

With the reports in, the DA issues an edict that the applicant pays to publish three times in La Gaceta, the official gazette. SENARA and AyA are given a hearing to comment. The DA then decides whether to enable the well.

For the concession itself you will usually need:

• the environmental viability for the concession, linked to the well code, which involves SETENA, the National Environmental Technical Secretariat;
• for human consumption in a community or condominium supply, microbiological and physico-chemical analyses under the drinking-water quality regulation, Decree 38924-S.

A water meter may be required. Once granted, the concession pays an annual fee (canon) for the water used.

How Decree 44410 orders the concession process

Since 2024, Decree 44410-MINAE, which regulates the Water Law, sets the general concession procedure. In short:

These are internal deadlines. In practice the whole process takes months, so start early. A concession must be renewed by applying six months before it expires (article 18), and if you sell or split the property, the concession has its own transfer procedure.

Domestic wells and when you don't need a concession

The Water Law (Law 276) lets owners open wells on their own land for domestic use without a concession, as long as they respect the distances to neighbors' wells and sources (article 6). A hand-dug domestic well is registered with the National Register of Water Concessions using the DA's form. If the water is used for anything beyond domestic use, such as a pool, a rental business or irrigation, a concession is required.

If your home is connected to a public system, run by AyA, an ASADA (a community-run rural water association) or a municipality, you don't need a concession: the operator holds it. What you need is a water availability letter from that operator. We cover it in buying land in Costa Rica: water and wastewater checks.

If a well turns out to be unusable, it must be sealed with gravel, a capped casing and a concrete slab of at least 10 cm, documented by a notary (article 53).

Condos and hotels

Two points matter most for developments:

• Condominium wells must be inside the condominium and in a common area (article 20), not on a private lot.
• Supplying other people is reserved for water utilities. Only water operators are authorized to drill for community supply (article 17), so a developer cannot simply sell well water to neighboring lots.

Hotels and condos that rely on a well almost always also treat their own wastewater. The two systems share data on flows, setbacks and the location of sources, so it pays to plan them together.

Keep the well away from your wastewater

A well and a septic system on the same lot must be designed together. Decree 42075-S-MINAE, the subsurface disposal regulation, sets minimum setbacks between drain fields and water sources, and the Water Law and the Forestry Law add protection areas around springs and wells. On small beach lots, those distances can decide where the house goes. Our guide to septic system sizing explains how the drain field is calculated.

How we can help

Ingeniería de las Aguas does not drill wells or process well permits. We work on what surrounds them: drinking-water quality analysis, the design of treatment and storage, and the design of the wastewater system so it keeps its distance from your water source. See our water systems service and our improved septic systems page.

If you are planning a well or buying a property that has one, send us the location, the intended use and any documents you already have on WhatsApp, or write to us through our contact page. We will tell you what to check first on the water and wastewater side.