On Thursday afternoon, we traveled the narrow, speed-bump ridden streets across San Cristóbal to a natural reserve known as Parque El Encuentro. This park expands into a mountain forest and is a popular destination for various outdoor activities such as camping and zip line tours. Driving down the dirt road entrance to the park, a small group of women could be seen washing clothes in El Río Amarillo, which is a common practice.

One guard currently lives in a corner of the property. We stepped inside his kitchen, which was a wooden structure built next to the house, to observe how he uses water daily. As you entered, a wall of cut firewood towered to your right and you were overpowered by the smokiness of a recently cooked meal over an open fire. The set-up was similar to the kitchens of other rural communities, however, this particular kitchen had a running tap, which many unfortunately do not. Outdoor toilets advertised at two pesos were located a few feet away and drain into a septic tank located on the property, which is also where the washing bucket used in the kitchen is emptied.

Cántaro Azul is interested in working with the owners of the park to capitalize on the existing space, transforming it into an educational area for community members to learn about water safety as well as for the organization to test prototypes prior to implementation. They are also currently designing a sustainable greywater treatment system for the park through the construction of a wetland, which was particularly interesting to me given that my experience with wastewater treatment so far has dealt mainly with urban systems. Greywater is defined as all wastewater that is collected from domestic use, but does not include human waste. Constructed wetlands are particularly useful in the treatment of greywater in rural areas located near a water source. They remove nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate, which improves soil quality, and can be designed to remove other pollutants if necessary, protecting the nearby water source from pollution.

Implementing this system and converting the existing toilets to composting toilets allows the septic tank to be sealed and removed, thus, solving the current problem of leakage of wastewater into the river. Several ideas were also bounced around for the modification of the kitchen’s current washing system such as the addition of a surface that can automatically drain the water, which could improve hygiene and reduce the overall burden of cleaning dishware.

A cloudy sky and the looks of rain cut our excursion short and we traveled back to the center of the city, but we will probably return to try out those zip lines..sorry mom ?

-Sophia