Nowadays, the subject of water holds a determining role in human development and in the quality of life of citizens, and it constitutes an unpostponable challenge that demands the implementation of public policies to ensure the quality and availability of this resource in time. This publication reflects the efforts done from the Research Center on Cultural Diversity and Regional Studies (CIDICER) and the research project Human development observatory in the Western Region, for having an active participation in the dialogue process, the analysis, and the reflection of problems that afflict the Western region. It collects the majority of the presentations in the International Forum on the Hydric Resource done in the Western Region of the University of Costa Rica the 16th and 17th of October 2014. The Forum counted with the participation of students and professors, as well as public institutions such as MINAE, SENARA, AyA ad functionaries from the ASADAS of the Western Region and of the Madre Verde Foundation.

This publication establishes an effort, from the academy, for the study and deliberation of the hydric resource in the Western Region, with the objective of contributing to the generation of new research questioning, new work hypothesis, awaken concerns about the subject of the hydric resource, and provide higher levels of awareness and commitment to the current situation of this resource.

The first chapter includes reports about the quality and management of water. The second part includes works about the legal management of the hydric resource. The third and final part includes proposals for the management and protection of the hydric resource.