On the eve of World Water Day in March, the UN announced that there are more cell phones on this planet than toilets. Over one third of the world’s people have no toilets. Many of those who do, live where their sanitation “systems” go directly into rivers and oceans. When Philadelphia has large amounts of rain, its system overflows into the Delaware River. Did you know that the average US American flushes a toilet 2,500 times a year?!
To the rescue comes Alan Wright, founder and President of SosteNica, one of this foundation’s loan recipients and the home of our Charitable Remainder Trust. Alan is part of a community in Veracruz, Mexico that is living off the grid and actively sharing what it is learning.
Alan is working with some of his Veracruz neighbors to solve their sanitation issues. Here’s Alan to tell you more:
500 families live in the village of Elotepec, Veracruz, Mexico which sits atop two micro-watersheds. When it rains in Elotepec, half of that rain runs towards the city of Puebla. The other half flows to the city of Veracruz. The people of Elotepec currently deal with sewage using the traditional hole in the ground style latrine. “Progress” dictates the installation of flush toilets, but Elotepec does not have enough water to drink, much less to flush their toilets. To make matters worse, in Mexico, 90% of all raw sewage drains untreated, directly into the nearest stream or river. The viable alternative to overflowing latrines, or raw sewage dumped in rivers is an odor free, dual-chamber composting toilet.
How does it work? When nitrogen rich urine and human excrement combine with carbon dense saw dust or dried leaves, aided by ambient bacteria, a composting process occurs. The carbon and nitrogen, over less than one year, turn into one of nature’s most fertile organic soil amendments. The dual-chamber system allows a family to capture their waste with little effort. At the end of the first year, they simply move their toilet seat from atop chamber #1 over to chamber #2, capping chamber #1 to do its work. At the end of the next year, when the time comes to move the toilet back to chamber #1, the contents of the first chamber have composted into a very fertile matter that can be added to fruit trees and to the traditional 3-sisters “milpa” – corn, beans, squash – the source of staple nutrition for Mexico.
A standard 2-chamber composting toilet costs around $300 US, when families contribute sweat equity. Already, 350 families in Elotepec have signed up to install one of these ecological toilets in their home. “Friends of the Mexican Cloud Forest” in conjunction with the Mexican non-profit “Microcuenca Citlalapa” (Citlalapa Micro-watershed) are seeking individual and institutional donors to contribute funds to construct composting toilets in Elotepec.
The non-profits will ask each family to dedicate the labor required to assist a skilled mason to construct the device, along with $100 towards materials. The two organizations will provide training, and follow-up education, as well as a subsidy of $200 per family towards the completion of the project.
Successfully installing 300 composting toilets will guarantee that the Jamapa watershed, one of the most important watersheds in the state of Veracruz, will be protected from contamination and will allow the Citlalapa micro-watershed to serve as a model for other communities and regions throughout Mexico. In addition, valuable life-giving nutrients will continue to feed the cycle of life in Elotepec. Please help.
If you’d like to contribute to this project, you may do so through us. Let us know when you donate.
Thank you in advance!