articles about cepp
composting
toilet
& graywater
system workshops
Banos
Go Ecologico in Baja California Sur
on Planeta.com
The
story of CEPP's first project in Mexico, with some information about other organizations
working in the ecological sanitation field in Mexico
Ecological
engineers must walk their talks
Simple
ways for water ecology enthusiasts to practice what they preach (many typos)
A
general article about composting toilets
featured
in Environmental Building & Design in 1999
EcoSan in North America and Pacific Islands
An article about
the ecological sanitation market and projects in the United States and the Pacific
Islands, presented at the Ecological Sanitation Symposium in Bonn, Germany, October,
2000
The following is an article about last year's Baja EcoSan Camp, originally published in The Sustainable Strategist newsletter. For articles about workshops, click here.
Learning to Build "Banos Ecologicos" at EcoSan Camp in Baja California Sur, Mexico
In
January, six students gathered at Ensenada Blanca on the east coast of Baja California
Sur for "EcoSan Camp," a three-day crash course on how to build composting
toilets and graywater systems.
Organized by the Center for Ecological
Pollution Prevention (CEPP) and led by CEPP's projects director, Carol Steinfeld,
the event was CEPP's first workshop in Mexico. Ensenada Blanca, a quiet cove facing
the high steep island of Danzante and overlooked by mountains, is the setting
of El Santuario Retreat, a budding ecotourism facility.
El Santuario posed three challenges: build a toilet system for guest bungalows,
another for users of the adjacent tent sites, one for the nearby fishing village
as a demonstration unit, and several for a one-week event that draws nearly 1,000
people to the beach.
The students started by building a simple system
for their own use: an alternating barrel system with urine diversion. Urine is
diverted to a urine composter, which is filled with carbon material and ultimately
produces soil. The students also made a Washwater Garden for the kitchen; this
system is an aerated garden bed into which kitchen wash water is drained and filtered
to irrigate plants. Another system, the Baja Box Composter, utilizes a Mexican-made
urine-diverting toilet stool. Urine is diverted to a planted garden bed, where
it combines with washwater from the showers and irrigates and feeds plants, such
as hibiscus and coconut palm.
To see a large capacity system in use,
the students visited a CEPP Twin-Bin with Net System built by CEPP in 1999 on
a nearby island. They discussed plans to build this system at another site.
Half of the students--three Harvard School of Public Health students, a student
of Evergreen College's sustainable development program, and two women who work
with natural building techniques in Arizona--report that they plan to build composting
toilets at home.
Photos
from EcoSan Camp 2000
Casey takes a break while the Harvard students sweat on. The participants' first task on day one: Make their own composting toilets for use during their stay at ESR.
Participants huddle in for a photo with their work.
A urine-diverting toilet is fitted with a gasketed seat and lid.
A composter is made for the kitchen. Baja's dry conditions require extra moisture for successful composting. This composter is located on the other side of the wall where kitchen scraps are generated, so they can be deposited right away.
Bill Paff and Denise Jones (standing) pose next to the nearly completed aerated barrel with net system, before the privacy structure is added. Spikey, Susan and Mel look on.
