During 1998, the management and conservation of natural resources had both improvements and drawbacks. Among the improvements were the publication of the Principles, Criteria, and Indicators for Managing the Forest, the Forestry Certification Program, and the National Strategy for Forestry Fires. Moreover, external forestry audits began for those with management programs and logging permits in the conservation areas, in order to improve control and transparency in these processes. Among the drawbacks were a 50% reduction in the forestry areas operating under the preservation program, through the payment of environmental services and an 11% reduction of the area with new forest plantations (compared to 1997). An important effort —that resulted from the National Concord Forum —was the submission of a bill for valuation and reimbursement for environmental services. Even though the Costa Rican legislation identified four environmental services that may be compensated, the mechanism that prevails in the country is primarily based on forestry criteria, which do not guarantee the protection of strategic water catchment areas. The price that the consumer currently pays for the water service includes the mean cost that the water undertaking pays to gather, make potable, transport, and distribute the water. It also includes a fixed service charge, a variable charge based on consumption, and a sometimes variable charge for sewage treatment