Despite the announcement more than two weeks ago that ocean waters in Tamarindo are polluted, Rodrigo Acuña, of the Santa Cruz office of the Public Health Ministry, said Friday that the ministry will be “moving slowly” in dealing with the problem.

Last Wednesday, Acuña told The Tico Times the ministry had issued sanitary orders to the Hotel Pasatiempo, among others in Tamarindo.

On Friday, he rescinded that statement, saying the ministry was “in the process of issuing the orders, but had not done so yet.”

Last month, studies released by the National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) found that all 13 sites tested along Tamarindo's beach exhibited high levels of fecal contamination – a direct result, they believe, of runoff from the booming Guanacaste beachfront town (TT, Oct. 26)