Project: National Audubon Society facility in Naples, Florida
Location: National Audubon Society Visitor Center, Naples Florida USA
Technology: anaerobic reactor with con-structed wetland post treatment
Capacity: 38,000 liters per day
Benefits: 90% of water is reused for non-potable uses. The facility treats sewage from the visitor center near a wildlife reserve. Since the usage is irregular the capacity of the system must be able to accommodate both the high extremes and periods of low input.

Anaerobic reactor with constructed wetland

Project: Dewatering and Composting of Industrial Sludge
Location: M&M/Mars Factory, Waco, Texas
Technology: Vertical Flow-Reed bed filtration following activated sludge treatment
Capacity: 70,000 liters of solids per month.
Benefits: Fertilizer/ avoided cost of sludge disposal. The facility constructed a vertical flow reed bed to dewater and compost the wastewater bio-solids from their activated sludge treatment system. Fees for off-site sludge disposal are high enough to make on-site treatment a good investment.

Vertical Flow-Reed bed filtration following activated sludge treatment

Project: Integrated wastewater treatment and biogas production
Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL.
Technology: Primary settling tank followed by single channel water hyacinth treatment. Capacity: ?
Benefits: Biogas (methane) production from harvested water hyacinth and sludge.

This integrated facility utilizes the income from biogas production to defray operation cost yielding a 15-20% savings over conventional treatment

Project: NASA
Site: NSTL, Mississippi
Technology: Rock bed filtration and sewage lagoon using Eichornia Crassipes, lemna, Spirodel and Wolffia as well as reed filtration with Phragmites Communis.
Capacity: 300,000 gal/day raw sewage.

This project has saved several million dollars in its 11 years of operation (Wolverton).

Socio-Political and Cultural Criteria

Level of Support

Community support

The community demonstrated support for improving their environment through conversation, meeting attendance and comments.

Government support

For this project, unknown. Interested in implementing conventional wastewater treatment for water quality improvements.

Support from other public or private institutions

Canadian Urban Institute, GDIC, OxFam (potentially), PMH, University of Washington

Environmental Regulations and Laws

Regulations and laws affecting current effluent standards

Existing regulations and laws are not adequately enforced. However, any system must meet or exceed current regulations.

Regulations and laws influencing future infrastructure projects

Future national regulations could follow UN regulations. Must consider future municipal regulations as well.

Cultural Values

Religious beliefs that could influence type, location and operational objectives

None noted, must be assessed locally

Other beliefs or traditions that could influence system type, location and operational objectives

In the community meeting residents did not recognize the value of sludge as a fertilizer. Must assess this further.

Physical Criteria

Site Characteristics

Geographic size of site

~ 5 hectares

Land use

Predominantly residential and industrial with some commercial, an elementary school and health clinic

Population and density

~1300, Fairly dense — small, closely spaced 1-3 story residential structures. Very little private open space.

Open Space

Size

~ 9,500 m²

Current uses and availability

Currently used for informal cultivation or trash dumping and burning. People use the water or its resources at their peril.

Desired uses

Fishing, swimming, pedestrian right-of-way.

Future or planned development or preservation

Planned decommission of paper and CO₂ factory in 2002 might yield additional space for a system or beneficial uses connected with the system.

Quality

Mostly flat, with occasional steeper slopes adjacent to Santoyo. More level sites are used for cultivation. Trash is a problem on the banks and within the water bodies.

Adjacency to households and outfalls

Most outfalls feed directly into or along the banks of the Almendares River or Santoyo.

Natural Features and Environmental Conditions

Hydrology

- Surface and subsurface

- Flood and drought regimes

- Water quality

There is the potential for a high level of exchange between the Almendares River and aquifer below, leading to the degradation of the municipal water supply

Periods of flood and drought do occur. Project designers must assess exact frequency and duration.

Untreated industrial and domestic wastewater and agricultural runoff enter both the Santoyo and Almendares River. Contaminants range from organic matter and nutrients to hydrocarbons and toxic chemicals. Measurable amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, hydrocarbons, copper, lead and zinc are found in Havana Bay. Exact local pollutants and concentrations are unknown. This must be assessed locally.

Soils

- Topsoil and lower substrate characteristics

- Stability and/or erosion

- Quality

Shallow top layer of organic matter, lower substrates are primarily limestone and clay. High permeability

Vegetation cover provides significant stability along Santoyo. Areas along Almendares are bare and susceptible to erosion. Stability must be more thoroughly assessed.

In general, soils used for cultivation contain little organic material, as there is a shortage of organic or chemical fertilizers in Cuba. On this site, there is most likely low to high levels of industrial contaminants within soil. Potential sites for location of constructed wetlands must be tested.

Vegetation

The banks of the Santoyo are heavily vegetated, with a mix of fruiting trees, native, and introduced species. Large trees provide expansive canopies for shade and root structure for soil stability.

Fauna

This must be assessed locally, evaluating numbers and habitat for native and introduced species.

Topography

- Entire community

- Relationship of community to open space

Slight grade changes of +/- 2 meters within the community

Community sits 3-6 meters above the Santoyo and the Mordazo above the Almendares River

Climate

Rainfall (amount, intensity)

Temperature range

Wind

Subtropical

Dry season (April-November)

Rainy season (May-October)

Temperature range: 67° F (18° C) to 90° F (32° C)

General wind direction in Havana is NNE, ENE, E, ESE

Wastewater Infrastructure

Wastewater Usage

- Average total wastewater

- Average domestic wastewater

225 liters per person per day (lppd)- This is a citywide average that includes industrial, domestic, and other local services. Many leaks within the antiquated system result in loss of anywhere between 15- 40% of consumable water.

The average domestic use or disposal is 121-131 lppd. For Cantarrana, this figure is likely to be lower.

Current treatment type

The existing system is predominantly a pipe network for conveyance into the storm system. The storm system conveys the wastewater to the natural water bodies. Some septic tanks exist.

Type/quality of wastewater inputs

- Greywater

- Blackwater

- Stormwater

- Industrial

- Agricultural run-off

All household water is mixed at the source and then mixed with stormwater within the pipe system.

Current pipe network

- Locations

- Conditions

Precise locations are unknown and infrastructure maps are difficult to obtain. From observation, most wastewater empties into the storm system and outfalls lead to the Santoyo or the Almendares. Project designers must find exact locations before implementing any system.

Very few replacements have occurred over the past 50 years. Conditions are generally poor, but must be assessed further.

Proposed or planned solutions

Long range plans for Puentes Grandes include a conventional system within the PMH. It is unclear whether Cantarrana would be connected to this system.

Current Health Problems

Water borne diseases

Dengue & malaria

Fecal borne disease

Hepatitis A, cholera, and other diarrheal diseases.

Nutrition

Protein deficiency is a problem, especially in lower income communities.

Other

Asthma and Acute Respiratory Illness (ARIs) from air pollution

Current Funding Sources/Other Resources

Community

No financial support; if the Cuban government supports the project, the community can contribute labor through microbrigades.

NGO/Nonprofit

Technical assistance from University of Washington graduate programs in urban planning and landscape architecture.

The Canadian Urban Institute has provided technical support in gathering data for analyses on the PMH project.

Potential Funding Sources/Other Resources

Government

Future taxing/regulatory power of the PMH a possibility.

Community

The community strongly supports neighborhood improvements; if organized, could attract government funds to the project.

NGO/Nonprofit

Technical assistance from University of Washington graduate programs scheduled for winter 2001.

International technical and financial assistance generated through the PMH and GDIC’s relationships with international NGOs.

OxFam has shown interest in the neighborhood.

Current and Potential Costs

Land acquisition

Land valuation in Cuba is problematic: acquisition costs are associated with the relocation of residences or businesses, if necessary.

Materials and construction

Unknown, must be further assessed locally.

Operation and maintenance

Unknown, must be further assessed locally.

Training

Funds are unlikely from local sources but assistance from international sources should be investigated.

Economic Conditions of the Community

Income level of residents

While exact income levels are unknown, it is generally accepted that most residents are poor.

Unemployment rate

Most people have jobs, but salaries are not necessarily commensurate with cost of living.

Availability of Materials

Availability of material and components for construction

Availability of local materials is unknown; imported materials would be very expensive due to high freight costs.

Operation and Maintenance Cost

Cost of operation and maintenance

Unknown — must be further assessed locally.

Maintenance labor costs

Must be further assessed locally.

Labor and Management Resources

Training

Must be further assessed locally but a low level of current training should be assumed.

Labor — construction

There is the potential to take advantages of microbrigades in building the system.

Labor — maintenance

Must be further assessed locally but volunteer efforts could be organized to maintain the system.

Technical Resources

International NGO’s have provided technical assistance for PMH and GDIC but ongoing local expertise is limited.

Management

GDIC or PMH could provide managerial resources as consultants but availability of trained local managers is unknown.

A. Comments participants made in their introduction addressing what the river meant to them.

A mí me encanta el río. Me encanta. No quisiera que estuviera sucio, pero me encanta, es muy lindo. Y si te paras allá en el puente de la papelera por ejemplo, es una visión preciosa. Pero si todos lo cuidaran, estaría mucho más lindo, tiene un follaje muy bonito. A mí me encantaría arreglar este río, y todo el barrio.

I love the river. Love it. I wish it weren’t dirty, but I love it: it’s very nice. And if you stand there on the bridge by the paper mill, it’s a lovely scene. But if everyone were to take care of it, it would be much nicer, it has such pretty foliage. I would love to fix this river and the entire neighborhood.

Yo recordaba el río de niño, las primeras cosas recordaba cuando yo viví en Vedado era llegar a la desembocadura del río y verla todo lleno de barcos de vela, algunos muy lujosos pero otros muy pobrecitos, botes de pescadores, yo todos estaban allí y en conjunto se veía muy bonito. Pero además el río era limpio. Yo no pescaba pero vi a la gente pescar.

I remembered the river as a child, the first things I remembered when I lived in Vedado was arriving at the river mouth and seeing it full of sailboats, some very luxurious but others were poor little fishing boats — and everyone was there, and together they looked very pretty. But what’s more, the river was clean. I didn’t fish, but I saw people fish.

Es un río estupendo, no solo en toda esta parte acá, sino también en su curso alto. Pero en estos momentos, muchas veces, voy hasta la puntilla, porque allí hay unos pelícanos que esperan a que llegan los pescadores y entran con ellos hasta por una parte del río, y verdaderamente es un espectáculo extraordinario toda la parte de la puntilla, que se ve el mar y se ve el río.

It’s an amazing river, not only in all this section here, but also in its headwaters. But right now I’ll often go to "the Little Point" [west side of the river’s mouth], because there are pelicans there that wait until the fishermen arrive, and they enter with them via a section of the river. And it’s truly an extraordinary show, that whole area of the Little Point, where you can see the sea and the river.

Yo quiero bañarme en el río igual como mi abuelita.

I want to go swimming in the river the same as my granma.

Llevo once años trabajando en esta escuela, y para mí es una importancia extraordinaria cuidar al río. Primero es parte del paisaje tan lindo de esta zona boscosa, llena de vegetación. Realmente considero que salvar el río sería un gran triunfo de todos, para la comunidad, para la zona donde está el río, para la vida inclusive la fauna de este río, que practicamente ha ido desapareciendo poco a poco por la contaminación. Pienso que sería una obra extraordinaria lograr que el río pueda revivir.

I’ve worked eleven years in this school, and for me it’s immensely important to take care of the river. First, it’s part of such a nice landscape of this forested area, full of vegetation. Really I think that to save the river would be a big success for everyone — for the community, for the area of the river, for life, including the animals of the river, which have practically disappeared bit by bit due to pollution. I think it would be an extraordinary feat to succeed in reviving the river.

B. Questions raised by participants after the UW presentation on ecological wastewater treatment options

¿Cuáles son las diferencias entre un sistema tal como lo han explicado y los sistemas convencionales de tratamiento de aguas sucias?

What are the differences between the kind of system you’ve explained and the conventional systems for treating dirty water?

Con la esperiencia de ustedes en estos días, ¿creen que es posible aplicar algún tipo de estos tratamientos alternativos en este barrio?

With your experience from these past days, do you think it’s possible to apply some kind of that alternative treatment in this neighborhood?

¿Qué nivel de participación de la población requiere este sistema?

What level of community participation does this system require?

¿Cómo se asegura que el abono que sale no tiene los mismo tóxicos que ya contaminan al río?

How do you ensure that the resulting fertilizer doesn’t have the same toxins that pollute the river now?

¿Este tratamiento alternativo de agua residual ya ha sido aplicado por ustedes en otro lugar?

Have you already applied this alternative wastewater treatment in some other place?

¿No hay algún presupuesto para limpiar el río?

Isn’t there some budget for cleaning up the river?

C. Selected comments made by participants after the UW team presentation on ecological wastewater treatment options

Este acuífero que está más al sur es de la cuenca de Vento que da más o menos la mitad del agua para La Habana todavía, y la mitad de la mitad por gravedad. Eso se controla periodicamente por el acueducto de Salud Publica, la calidad de esa agua. Pero una manera importante de que esa agua no se echa a perder, y eso sería fatal para la Habana, es mantener la cuenca sin construcción, porque sino, cada vez que se construye algo se va contaminando a la cuenca. También, nadie debe impedir que la cuenca se alimienta con la lluvia. Por eso es tan importante no construir en esa parte, que no es aquí, está en el sur [de La Habana]. Por supuesto, bueno, el río le pasa por arriba, es lo mismo, porque eso [el agua] siempre va para abajo.

The aquifer that’s located to the south belongs to the Vento watershed, which still provides about half of Havana’s water, and half of that half is gravity-fed. The Public Health aquaduct [agency] tests the quality of that water periodically. But one important way to keep from wasting that water — which would be awful for Havana — is to keep the watershed free of construction, because otherwise every time something would get built, we’d continue to pollute the watershed. Also, no one should prevent the watershed from absorbing rainwater. That’s why it’s so important not to build in that area — not here, it’s further south [of Havana]. Of course, sure, the river flows through it up there, it’s all the same, because [water] always flows downhill.

En estos días en que he estado trabajando con los muchachos, me llamó mucho la atención ver la carencia de educación en los niños. Pude apreciar el sábado como un niñito iba por toda la calle del central hasta el puentecito que está allá adelante con una cepa de plátano y después arrojarla al río. Me parece que tenemos que trabajar con los pequeños.

These past few days as I’ve worked with the [students], I was really struck by the children’s poor upbringing. Saturday I watched a little kid walk the length of the street from the store to the little bridge over there with a banana peel, and then he chucked it in the river. It seems to me we have to work with the children.

En función de urbanizar el barrio, nosotros mismos somos los responsables, y con la buen intensión de todos los demás compañeros, los representantes que están aquí, pero señores, los afectados somos nosotros, porque somos los que vivimos aquí. Es la idea que yo quiero elevar.

We’re the ones responsible for improving the neighborhood, [I recognize] the good intentions of the rest of our colleagues, the representatives here today, but people, we’re the affected ones, because we live here. That’s the idea I want to raise.

El río que ustedes han visto en estos días no es el mismo río que hubieran visto diez años atrás. Ese río tenía una contaminación total. Posiblemente no había nada, solamente contaminación. Pero se ha echo un trabajo con varios compañeros…Y yo pienso que se puede hacer mucho más.

The river you’ve seen recently isn’t the same river you’d have seen ten years ago. That river was totally polluted. It’s possible there wasn’t anything at all, just pollution. But folks have done a lot of work … and I think we can do a lot more.

Este tipo de sistema de tratamiento permite que el río siga teniendo agua. Si ahora mañana llegara alguien que dijera "aquí hay cincuenta millones de dólares y vamos a hacer alcantarillados a todo esto para que ninguna casa ni ninguna industria, eche aguas sucias al río", el río se queda seco. Entonces este tipo de tratamiento lo que permite es que el agua siga rellenando al río pero limpio.

This kind of treatment system allows the river to continue to hold water. If someone were to arrive tomorrow and say, "here’s fifty million dollars, and we’re going to build sewers all over here so that no house, no industry dumps wastewater in the river", then the river would end up dry. So this kind of treatment allows water to continue to fill up the river, but clean water.

Lo que para nosotros o para el agua es contaminación, son nutrientes para las plantas. Las plantas lo toman para su crecimiento y se lo elimina al agua y a la vez, también las plantas aseguran que se distribuya oxígeno. Y por supuesto la materia orgánica, la mierda, que está allí, se la desentegra, se la descompone, y después se puede aplicar como abono. Hay bastante experiencia a mediana escala y a pequeña escala con este tipo de sistema natural y tentamos ahora en el barrio de Pogoloti — está medio concluido — una planta a mediana escala para ver si da. Y ojalá esta experiencia de Amy se pueda construir también.

What for us and for the water is pollution, that’s nutrients for plants. Plants absorb it for their growth, and they eliminate it from the water. Meanwhile plants also ensure the distribution of oxygen. And of course the organic material, the shit that’s in there, they decompose it, and afterwards it’s possible to apply it as fertilizer. There’s lots of experience with that kind of thing in medium- and small-scale natural systems, and we’re putting together a facility soon in Pogoloti — it’s half done — at medium scale to see whether it works. And hopefully it’s possible to build Amy’s idea too.

Yo pienso, mi opinión particular que las industrias van a quedarse. Además son las fuentes de trabajo de muchos vecinos de Cantarrana, y muchos vecinos de Cantarrana viven en Cantarrana porque fabricaron sus viviendas cercanas a esas industrias. Yo pienso en realidad que ya que tenemos la suerte o la desgracia de tener industrias que contaminan el río, deben también reconocer que la mano de obra contamina el río tanto que la industria, o más. Porque si nosotros todos fueramos capaces de pensar todas las cosas que pasan cuando uno echa basura al río, cual sea los residuales sólidos o los residuales líquidos al río, o al arroyo, sería mucho menos la contaminación del río, en realidad.

Yo sí pienso que el río tiene vida. No es la vida que nosotros quisieramos que tuviera en el río, como dicen ellos que quieren comer camarónes y peces. Pero hay jicotéas, hay plantas que viven en la orilla del río. Pero esas plantas fueran mucho más bellas, y darían más y serían más turísticas a nuestra visión, si fueramos capaces de quitar todo lo que nos interfiere en el uso del río. Por ejemplo, una de las cosas que interfiere en el uso del río, a parte de la malagueta, o bueno, ustedes me disculpan, yo no sé muy bien expresarme en cuanto a los términos que ustedes conocen, pero bueno, en mi opinión. Desde medio octubre, cayó un árbol en el río, y nadie a venido a recoger el árbol del río. Y yo soy nueva en el barrio, como todos saben, yo me mudé aquí justamente el 16 de octubre, pasando el ciclón. Desde el 16 de octubre, yo estoy viendo que ese río arrastra todos los desechos sólidos, diganse jabitas, etc, etc, etc, que quedan atrapados el las ramas de ese árbol… En esas jabitas existe agua acumulada que puede ser criadero de insectos que son transmisores de esas enfermedades como usted dijo. Pero yo pienso que si nosotros aquí nos pondremos de acuerdo, nos comprometemos en no echar basura… Incluso, tenemos un proyecto del Parque Metropolitano y de la fundación Jiménez que nos da posibilidad de recoger nuestros desechos sólidos, y para eso nos da todos los recursos . A mi me dió un cubo, y me dió una caja, y me dió todo de una serie de folletos de explicación y unos compañeros que constantamente se mantienen viniendo aquí a preocuparse por los desechos sólidos. Porque además se constituye una fuente de recursos económicos para nuestro propio barrio. Y mucha gente no colabora con eso. Es más fácil botar los desechos allá en el arroyo, y después se van para donde está el consultorio a decirme a mí que hay un ratón, que hay mosquitos, y que hay de todo. "Mire señor, usted no puede ser limpio, cuando usted limpia su casa y ensucia la calle!" Porque allá lo dijo Martí, el gran pensador cubano. No es limpio que es limpio, sino quien preserva, quien mantiene la higiene, y yo no puedo limpiar mi casa para ensuciar la de ella. Si yo soy capaz de echar un desecho al río, y provocar una enfermedad como el dengue, que todo el mundo sabe que costó 158 vidas en este país, entonces yo no soy limpio.

I think — my personal opinion — is that the industries will stick around. What’s more, they’re the sources of work for lots of residents of Cantarrana, and lots of neighbors in Cantarrana live here because they built their homes close to those industries. I really think that since we have the good or bad fortune to have industries that pollute the river, we should also recognize that labor pollutes the river as much as industry, or more. Because if we were able to imagine all the things that happen when we throw trash into the river, whether it’s solid wastes or liquid wastes in the river, or in the ditch, there would be much less pollution in the river, for sure.

I do think that the river contains life. It isn’t the life that we wish it would have, like those who say they want to eat crawdads and fish. But there are [jicotéas], there are plants that live there on the banks of the river. But those plants would be even more beautiful and would produce more and would be even more scenic for us if we were able to take out everything that interferes with the use of the river. For example, one of the things that interferes with the use of the river, aside from the water hyacinths — well, you’ll have to excuse me: I don’t know how to express myself in terms you’d know, but OK, in my opinion — In mid October, a tree fell in the river, and no one has come to get this tree out of the river. I’m new in the neighborhood, as everyone knows. I moved here precisely on the 16^th of October, after the storm. Since then I’ve been watching that river rake up all the solid wastes, such as [jabitas], etc., etc., etc., that get caught in the branches of that tree… In those [jabitas] there’s collected water that can be a breeding ground for insects that are carriers of those sicknesses like you said. But I think that if those of us here were to come to an agreement, we could commit to not throwing trash… In addition, we have a project of the Metropolitain Park and of the Jiménez Foundation that lets us collect our solid wastes, and for this they give us all the resources. They gave me a cube, and they gave me a box, and they gave me a whole series of informational pamphlets and some folks who are constantly coming here to deal with solid wastes. Because this is also a source for economic resources for our own neighborhood. And a lot of people don’t cooperate. It’s easier to throw trash over there in the ditch, and then later they go on over to the clinic and tell me about the rats, about the mosquitos, about everything else. "Look mister, you can’t be clean when you clean your own house you mess up the street!" That’s what Martí said, the great Cuban thinker. Clean isn’t clean, except for those who preserve, those who maintain hygiene, and I can’t clean my house just to get hers dirty. If I’m able to throw trash in the river and cause a sickness like dengue, which everyone knows cost 158 lives in this country, then I’m not clean.

El problema para que haya mejor higiene en el río — me parece que debe de haber personas, como existía antes un grupo de personas que todos los días chapeaban todo lo que es la margen del río en un tramo, que iban chapeado y limpiado la margen del río y esto mantenía la orilla del río, la mantenían limpia de hierbas. ¿Qué pasaba con esto? Que cuando no había hierba, no había mosquitos… Para que no hay mosquitos, y para que haya más peces en el río, tiene que haber gente que limpien las orillas del río.

The problem so that there’s better hygiene in the river — I think there should be people, a group like the one that existed once that every day cleared along the edge of the river in a swath, who would go chopping and cleaning the river’s edge, and this maintained the banks of the river, it kept them clean of weeds. What happened then? When there weren’t any weeds, there weren’t any mosquitos… So that there are no mosquitos, and so that there are more fish in the river, there have to be people who clean the banks of the river.

Yo creo que con una buena campaña de divulgación y promoción como se acostumbra de hacer aquí en el país a través de los consultorios, precisamente, como una campaña de vacunación a los niños que se dice "de tal periodo a tal periodo se va a vacunar." ¿Ningún niño quiere vacunarse, verdad? Si usted va al consultorio, allá hay una propaganda de divulgación de los beneficios y perjuicios que tiene. Empezar a hacer este trabajo, osea ¿Qué es lo que se puede hacer, y cuáles son las consecuencias de no hacerlo? A través de ustedes fundamentalmente.

I think that with a good educational and promotional campaign like we’re used to doing here in this country through the clinics, just like a vaccination campaign that says, "from this time to this time we’re going to vaccinate". No child wants to get vaccinated, right? If you go to the clinic, there’s an educational poster about the benefits and risks that it has. To start to do this work [by asking], "What can you do, and what are the consequences of not doing it?" Through you [indicating the doctor], basically.

A través de nosotros y a través de los representantes de la comunidad que tenemos por ejemplo aquí. Lo que llamamos los líderes formales y los líderes informales. De los líderes formales tenemos aquí toda esta representación. Porque ahora estos niños van a llevar a sus casas esta idea y van a comprometer un poco a su familia …

Through us and through the community representatives who are here, for example. Those we call the formal and the informal leaders. Of the formal leaders we have everyone here today. Because now these children are going to take this idea to their houses and are going to commit their families a little…

Yo no soy de la comunidad … pero bueno. … Me llamó mucho la atención acerca de las campañas. Sinceramente, a mí hablar de una campaña me suena malo… Una campaña es algo que uno lanza. La hacen, la realizan, cuando pasa la campaña, se acabó. Todo vuelve a caer lo mismo. Por eso pienso que se debe hablar más bien fuera de una campaña, se debe hablar de la cultura educativa. Para que no sea una campaña, que es lo que todos hemos visto: "OK, vamos a chapear la orilla del río." Chapeamos la orilla del río. Rrrrrrrr. Se acabó la campaña, vuelve a crecer la hierba, y vuelve el problema.

I’m not from this community, but hey… It struck me [what you said] about the campaigns. Truthfully, talk about a campaign sounds bad to me. A campaign is something one launches. They do it, they make it happen, when the campaign is done, it’s all over. Everything goes back to normal. For that reason I think we should think beyond the limits of a campaign — we should talk about an educational culture. So that it isn’t like a campaign, which is what we’ve all seen: "OK, let’s clear the riverbanks." We clear the riverbanks — Rrrrrrr. The campaign’s done, the weeds grow again, and the problem is back.

Es que no me entendiste lo que dije así de campaña. Yo hablé de campaña de promoción y divulgación, de beneficios y perjuicios de esta cosa que está allí planteada, no de esos trabajos. Eso viene después, tu tienes que hacer una buena campaña de educación y promoción de esos beneficios y de cuales son las cosas malas. Eso es a lo que me refiero.

It’s that you didn’t understand what I meant about campaigns. I was talking about a promotional and educational campaign, of benefits and costs of this thing we’re proposing, not of those jobs. That comes later. You’ve got to have a good campaign of education and promotion of those benefits and of what the bad things are. That’s what I’m talking about.

Primero tenemos que conjugar a esta gente, legitimar a estas personas que somos, que son parte de este proceso. … y comunicar con ellos desde el inicio de la idea, no en el momento de la implementación de estos sistemas, sino desde mucho antes y creo que empezamos aquí. Una manera que se pudiera hacer este trabajo es que el grupo del medio ambiente que existe en esta comunidad, y que entre ellos está la enfermera que todos la conocemos … Y que hay un grupo de niños, que sabemos tienen sensibilidad para este trabajo, que pueden unirse en este esfuerzo. Y creo que según las metas que quedan sobre el medio ambiente, una vez que existe un financiamiento o aún si no hay financiamiento pero sí hay la voluntad para hacer un proyecto ¿Dónde existe el problema, cómo podemos responder a este problema? Nosotros tenemos mecanismos para autogestionar los proyectos que quedan.

First we’ve got to call these people together, legitimize these people here, who are part of this process … and communicate with them about the idea from the very beginning, not at the point of implementation of these systems, but rather from much earlier, and I think we’ve started here. One possible way to do this work is through the environmental group that exists in this community, and who count the nurse as one of their numbers, who we all know… And there’s a group of children, who we know are sensitized toward this work, which can unite itself around this effort. I think that based on the goals [we’ve established] regarding the environment, as soon as there exists some financing or even if there isn’t any financing but there is the willingness to do a project. "Where does this problem exist? How can we respond to this problem?" We have mechanisms to self-start the projects that remain.

Es muy importante ofrecer esta flecha. A mí me parece que para obtener la participación de la comunidad, la comunidad tiene que percibir una necesidad. Tiene que haber un beneficio a la comunidad. Hay un beneficio general, de la higiene, de la limpieza del río, de la limpieza del medio ambiente. Pero hay beneficios más completos, más directos que la comunidad puede percibir. Es interesante que nadie puso "reciclo de nutrientes" [en el ejercicio sobre las preferencias]. Quizás porque no entendimos bien. Yo creo que es importante ver que estos systemas que presentan que la comunidad puede disponer de los recursos de su basura sin, sin nada puede ser un beneficio para la comunidad, a partir de sus propios desechos. Este proyecto me parece tiene que tener un fin muy claro, tiene que haber un beneficio concreto y palpable.

It’s very important to offer this point. It seems to me that to get the community to participate, the community has to perceive some necessity. There has to be some benefit to the community. There’s a general benefit — hygiene, cleanliness of the river, and cleanliness of the environment. But there are more complete benefits that are more direct and that the community can perceive. It’s interesting that no one selected "recycling of nutrients" [in the revealed preference exercise]. Maybe it’s because we didn’t understand it well. I think it’s important to make sure that these systems you’ve presented allow the community to dispose of its trash resources [while creating] a benefit for the community, starting with their own wastes. It seems to me that this project has to have a very clear goal, and it has to have a concrete and palpable benefit.

Yo pienso que hay que dividir el problema. Hay el problema con las industrias y el problema con la población. El problema con las industrias lo tienen que resolver las industrias. Y si no lo resuelvan, hay que darles un plazo, y si no lo resuelvan en este plazo, hay que cerrar la industria. Y entonces el problema de la población, tiene que resolverse con la propia población, dándole los métodos, dándole las técnicas, enseñamos como se hacen las cosas. Porque lo que no nos va a suceder, por lo menos yo creo en este periodo próximo, es que se puede hacer una inversión gigantesca para resolver el problema de todo el mundo. Este tipo de inversión lo que sería es mantener todo el río sucio y al final limpiarlo pero ya va tarde. Pero ya va a seguir pasando sucio por aquí, asi que la única solución para ese problema es limpiar en el momento que empieza el problema, no dejar que el problema llega a ser tan grande hasta que ya no hay solución. Me parece que eso es muy importante. Y creo que estas técnicas la ventaja que tienen es que no necesitan que todo se resuelve en un golpe, de una sola vez, sino que se puede ir mejorando la situación. Bueno, el río está más lindo porque hay menos cosas que tiran de sucio al río. Pero bueno, y así se puede ir mejorando, hasta que la gente pueda ya, no sé, tomar agua del río. Pero puede ser poco a poco. Y en cambio, la otra solución tiene que ser completa, con un gasto tremendo que no se puede hacer ahora. Entonces yo prefiero dividir el problema de la industria y el de la población. Y el problema grave para mí es de la industria, porque es que es químico que es más grave todavía que el otro. La doctora sabrá decir, pero el otro son nocivas como el e. coli que lo más que pueda resultar es en colitis, y es cierto que niños pequeños pueden morir por eso, pero mucho más grave es envenenarse con metales pesados, como plomo. Entonces yo creo que donde está el problema más serio es con las industrias. Sin embargo, estas industrias me importa que se queden aquí, porque son un atractivo turístico que se pueden convertir casi en un museo.

I think we have to divide the problem. There’s the problem with the industries and the problem with the populace. The problem with the industries — the industries themselves have to solve. If they don’t resolve it, there’s got to be a deadline, and if they don’t resolve it by the deadline, we’ve got to close the industries. So then the problem of the populace has to be solved by the same populace, giving them the methods, giving them the techniques, we teach them how things are done. Because what isn’t going to happen to us, at least over the short term I think, is that we’ll be able to make a huge investment to resolve everyone’s problem. This type of investment would keep the waste in the river, and in the end would clean it [before it flows into the sea]. But that way the dirty water will continue to flow by here, so that the only real solution for this problem is to clean at the same point at which the problem starts, not to let the problem grow until there isn’t any solution. I think that’s really important. And I think that the advantage these techniques have is that they don’t require everything to be fixed in one fell swoop, all at once, but rather it’s possible to gradually improve the situation. Sure, the river is nicer because there are fewer things that people throw to dirty up the river. But yeah, that way it’s possible to continually improve, until people can even, I don’t know, drink water from the river. But it can be done bit by bit. In contrast, the other solution has to be complete, with a huge expenditure that just isn’t possible right now. So I prefer to divide the problem of the industry and of that of the populace. And the serious problem for me is industry’s, because chemicals are more serious even than the other [sewage]. The doctor would know for sure, but the other is noxious, like e. coli, which at worst can result in colitis, and it’s true that little children can die of that, but it’s much more serious to poison oneself with heavy metals, like lead. So I think that the most serious problem is with the industries. However, it makes a difference to me that these industries stay here, because they’re a tourist attraction that can be turned into something of a museum.

Yo creo que las industrias han cooperado en esto bastante. Actualmente, están contaminando mucho menos que unos años atrás. El río se ve con más vida ahora que diez años atrás. Verdad que están contaminando menos, es por las visitas que les han hecho los compañeros que las han visitado, que les han dadó ese mensaje a las industrias y es verdad que hay mucho menos contaminación en estos años que antes.

I think the industries have cooperated plenty in this. Right now, they’re polluting much less than some years ago. The river looks more alive now than ten years ago. It’s true that they’re polluting less, and it’s because of the visits that our colleagues have paid, who have delivered that message to the industries and it’s true that there is much less pollution these years than before.

Había varios quienes brindaron sus ideas y perspectativos durante la reunión. Lastimamente no se podía oir la retroalimentación de cada participante en la grabación. Nos disculpamos sinceramente por un resumen medio-completo.

There were several people who offered their ideas in the meeting. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to hear all the feedback of every participant in the recording. Our sincere apologies for an incomplete summary.