Our Partnership
We are very proud of all of our work with La Peña in building a composting latrine for every household and consulting on a water catchment system. With our work complete, we have chosen to close this project out and focus our efforts on our Udaipur and Yumbe projects.
the community
The La Peña village is located in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges of El Salvador. The close-knit community is made up of 36 households, a church, school, and soccer field, and is considerably isolated from neighboring towns. La Peña is in the Santa Ana district, a 30-minute drive to the city of Metapán and 3-hour drive to the capital city, San Salvador. The primary industry is agriculture; most families own livestock and subsist on their own crops. Recreationally, the community enjoys weekend movie nights at the school and supporting their town youth soccer and basketball teams in competitions against other local villages.
The GWU - EWB chapter has provided technical assistance on community development projects in La Peña since 2010, making it our longest standing community partnership. The program was brought to a close in 2019 due to travel security concerns, though the relationships between EWB volunteers and community members endure. The project met intended results boasting the successful implementation of 26 compost latrines providing all households access to sanitary and sustainable means for disposal of human wastewater.
Compost Latrine Project
At the start of the program, the La Peña community lacked infrastructure for sustainable waste disposal, often resorting to waste disposal habits that contaminated soil, water supply and field crops. Following assessment of existing practices, water quality parameters, and available resources, our chapter designed a dual pit urine diverting dry compost latrine tailored to community needs. Every household in the community now has a private compost latrine to safely dispose of waste and utilize the byproducts to fertilize crops. Education and training has been a key focus of the project. Community members have gained the technical skills for latrine upkeep and replication as well as increased awareness surrounding the public health risks of poor sanitation. The community has seen improved surface water quality, health and sanitation as a result of the program.
Clean Water Project
Due to La Peña’s dry climate and the soil’s contamination from livestock feces, the community is in great need of access to a clean water supply. EWB-GWU’s sanitation program and ongoing water contamination education efforts have helped significantly diminish contamination of their water supply. However, the contamination level in the water supply is still higher than the acceptable limits set by the World Health Organization. The coliform, bacteria (E. Coli) concentration, is especially of concern. Community members often fall sick from stomach and fever symptoms rendering them unable to attend school or work. It affects the development of the children most, who tend to be hardest hit by illness. Additionally, the quantity of water is extremely scarce, especially during the dry season, reducing to only a trickle. Our chapter has made multiple assessment trips for the clean water project, and we are currently evaluating our data to determine a solution that can alleviate this issue.
the story
In total, we have traveled to La Peña 6 times. We’ve built 22 latrines so far and there is demand for even more. In a community of 36 households, the latrine project has made a great impact since most community members did not have access to sanitary waste disposal options before which led to contamination of their drinking water supply and agriculture. Our focus from now on will be for the new water supply project, but we believe that our success on the latrine project will highlight the great potential for success as we move forward with new ventures.
January 2011
January 2011 was our initial assessment trip. On this trip, we discussed the proposed project with the Minister of Health in charge of the community to understand the process required to gain approval from the government. We also spoke with the Peace Corps volunteer living there about how we could work with the ADESCO and how the community leaders might be able to assist us in running and maintaining a community water system. We analyzed the existing source water quality, mapped the existing water infrastructure, and conducted a survey that included all 36 households in the community to gain an understanding of the existing water system and to identify the needs of the community.
January 2012
In January 2012, EWB-GWU built the first 2 dual pit urine diverting dry compost latrines. This is a type of compost latrine that includes the addition of urine diversion. This latrine is built above ground, with two sealed compartments, made of concrete, brick/mortar, or some other material that seals in all moisture. The purpose of the double pit arrangement is to keep one pit in use at all times. The other pit is allowed to compost while the pit in use fills. Once the pit in use is full the composting pit is emptied and placed into service while the full pit is allowed to compost. Solid waste goes into the compartment, while urine is diverted away from the compartment into a tube leading to another receptacle. Removing urine from the process decreases the composting time by reducing the moisture of the pit. After each use, some form of dry matter such as sawdust, leaves, or straw, is added to reduce smell and help speed up the composting process of the waste. Once the compartment is full, it is sealed and left to compost. After composting is complete, the dried compost can then be removed and used as fertilizer or scattered over vacant land.
January 2013
In January 2013, we built two more latrines with the same process that we used in 2012, and we also monitored the two previous latrines. The past two latrines were monitored for differential settlement around the base, leakage from the access door, odors emanating from the latrine, insects around the latrine, and ponding or washout around the urine diversion pit. We also interviewed users and found that the families that received them have been happy with them. There were no complaints of odors or leaking from inside the vault.
January 2014
In January 2014, we built 2 more latrines and monitored 4 previous latrines. The main focus was to make sure the community mason and his son understood the designs and the building process, with the hopes that they could start building latrines without EWB-GWU present to supervise and guide the process. This was accomplished by demonstrating certain installation processes on one latrine and then watching as the mason or his son performed the installation on the second latrine. The Peace Corps volunteer in the community was also present to observe all construction processes and assist in accurate translation of all instructions. We also hiked to the spring sources to gather more information for the upcoming water project.
January 2015
In January 2015, we built 2 more latrines. With our instruction and funding, the community built 11 more latrines on their own. This totals 20 latrines over the years. A community meeting took place on this trip where discussion of continuing our relationship with the community was explored. The feedback we got was that the community has appreciated all of our work and wants to continue with a more involved project. In addition, more communication with the ADESCO and Minister of Health was accomplished to explore the potentials for a clean water project. Additionally, more water quality tests were performed.
January 2016
In January 2016, we built 2 more latrines and continued assessment for a clean water project. We created a GIS map of the community and utilized EPANET to calculate the flow rate in the town’s current system, concluding that there are no major losses between the springs and the tanks. We tested water quality again and determined that there is a high level of turbidity and E. coli present. We are evaluating the potential for implementing an automatic chlorination device and improvements to their current system.
July 2019
In July 2019, the La Pena project has come to an official end upon our completion of creating all of the latrines required by the community.