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Public Health and Sanitation - Summer 2012
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When: June 28th - August 2nd, 2012
Program Description: MOCHE is partnering with Engineers Without Borders (EWB)- UNC-CH chapter, for the fourth consecutive summer to work on health and sanitation programs in the town of Ciudad de Dios. This year we will be working on VIP composting latrines. Four years ago, MOCHE and EWB helped to bring a gravity-fed, sustainable water system to Ciudad to provide potable water for drinking, cooking and irrigation. Three years ago we started a latrine program that aimed to provide every household with a sanitary latrine system. This year we are going to build on those efforts and work with each family to build a VIP composting latrine (for more information about the specifics of the system that we plan to install, see the description below). Volunteers will work under the supervision of a MOCHE program director and other EWB interns to assist the people of Ciudad, their local government and the water committee with the construction of the community sewer system and household latrines. Staff and volunteers will also hold education programs about sanitation and health for the local population before the completion of the system. In addition to the time spent at Ciudad, volunteers will have the opportunity to attend guided Saturday tours of local archaeological and cultural heritage sites such as Chan Chan and Huaca de la Luna. To cap off our program, we will have a four-day, three night trip to the beautiful highland city of Cajamarca.
Location: Volunteers will work in the town of Ciudad de Dios. MOCHE has a long-standing relationship with the people of Ciudad, and we have been working with them on development projects for years. Ciudad de Dios is a small rural town (about 70 households) in the middle Moche River Valley in the foothills of the Andes. Ciudad is about 30 min from the large city of Trujillo by car, bus or local transportation. Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru, and it offers most of the comforts of home. All volunteers and staff stay in the small fishing village of Huanchaco on the pacific coast about 15 min north of Trujillo. Huanchaco is a 40 min away from Ciudad de Dios and we will bus into the valley 5 days a week to work.
Accommodations: Volunteers will live in the beautiful beach town of Huanchaco. They will sleep in double or triple room with shared bathroom facilities with running water, electricity and some hot water. We have a Peruvian staff that cooks our meals, three times a day, six days a week. The meals will include: a light breakfast of bread, butter,  jams, coffee and juice, a packed meal to take to the field and hot, home-cooked Peruvian dinners. We can accommodate vegetarians, given advanced notice, but we regret that we cannot accommodate a vegan diet. Meals are not covered on Sunday, as Sunday is a free day that volunteers can use to go in and see the city of Trujillo, take surfing lessons, relax on the beach or play soccer. We can also arrange Spanish lessons from a local tutor for an extra fee.
Language: The people of coastal Peru speak Spanish, and the Moche Valley is no exception. There is no language requirement for the program, as we have bilingual staff, however, as stated above, if you would like to work to improve your Spanish skills we can arrange for tutoring with locals for a fee.
Costs: $2,120* covers all lodging, 3 meals a day, 6 days a week, orientation and educational workshops, guided tours, supplies for development projects, transportation Huanchaco-Ciudad, the trip to Cajamarca, a MOCHE t-shirt and all site and museum entrance fees.
Application: Enrollment is open to anyone over the age of 18, though the majority of our volunteers are college or graduate students or recent graduates. There are no prerequisites; Spanish is not required. Space is limited to 15 volunteers.
Deadline: Applications will be due on March 5th, 2012. If the program is not full at this point, we will continue to accept applications. Please email applications to our Volunteer Coordinator, Stephanie O'Daly at sodaly@live.unc.edu
More Information: For more information about applications, our work in Peru or for any other concerns you may have please email our Volunteer Coordinator, Stephanie O'Daly
* The quoted cost is based on prices and exchange rates as of November, 2011. The costs and details of the program itinerary are subject to change.
The Hybrid Sanitation System: The proposed sanitation system is a hybrid one, collecting urine at the household level in order to use the nitrogen in at-home gardens, and using a piped sewer with pour-flush toilets to collect and manage feces on the community level. This system is proposed as a compromise between efficient management of excreta, protection of health, and acceptance of the sanitation system.
The system begins with a concrete toilet with two seats.  One seat is used for urine while the other is used for feces as shown to the left. The urine is collected in a container beneath the corresponding seat. The urine can be emptied through a tap on the side of the toilet and there is an overflow of the urine container into the side of the toilet used for feces. Feces are deposited in a pour-flush toilet. The user then uses a container of water (approximately 1.5 liters) to flush the feces into a small piped community system (Figure 2), where it is collected and managed by a hired manager. Because urine contains about 90% of the nutrients in excreta, recovery of the majority of nutrients is achieved directly through the collection and use of the urine at the household level. Families typically have gardens and would be able to use urine prior to planting and during the initial growing cycle of the garden. Given the low latitude, gardens can be planted throughout the year and so there should be opportunities for the family to use the urine year-round. Conversations with residents indicate that dealing with urine at the family level is more acceptable than managing feces and the reduced risk from low pathogen levels in urine make this a safe option.
Feces, on the other hand, are regarded as unclean and flush-toilets are preferred.  The high pathogen level in feces and the resulting requirements for careful management favor a more centralized processing of feces to ensure adequate storage times and establishing markets for the finished composted matter. The village is situated on a slope below which sugarcane is planted. The slope facilitates the flow of sewage while the sugarcane farms provide an opportunity for use of the compost.
The piped system will connect the 70 households through a series of pipes, similar to what is conventionally done with small-community piped systems. This is simplified because the 70 homes are primarily in 8 buildings of between 4 and 10 homes each. This reduces the total length of piping.
Six evaporation ponds are used to segregate the excreta so that batches will be set aside approximately every two months for dewatering and composting. Each pond would need to be 33 square meters in area, or about 7 meters in diameter. These can be constructed as dug pits 1 meter deep, lined with a liner to prevent seepage, and with the excavated dirt used to create a 1.5 meter brim to prevent overflow and accidental entry. The system addresses many of the current sanitation needs of the community of Ciudad and it provides for a clean and easy to use system.
Analysis by Program Director Liz Morris
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Joseph LoBuglio |
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