 |
| Wastewater Gardens® for Community
Development |
|
| “More than a billion people
lack access to clean drinking water and over 2.4 billion
lack access to proper sanitary facilities. The result
is that there are more people in the world’s hospitals
today suffering from water-borne diseases than any other
ailment. Some two million children die every year—6,000
a day—from such infections. Donors have committed
significant resources to improve access to water and sanitation.
While well short of the kind of sums that will eventually
be needed to reach the Millennium Development Goals on
water, this is a very encouraging start. The
challenges ahead may be enormous, but there are success
stories from all over the world that we can build on.”—
Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of UNDP |
|
|
|
In 2002, Wastewater Gardens®
were used to solve the health and environmental problems
caused by wastewater at an aboriginal community located
in northern Australia (Emu Creek, Gulgagulganeng, near
Kununurra, West Australia).
This Wastewater Gardens® pilot project was highly
successful in demonstrating a new approach to greening,
beautifying the community while recycling wastewater
and reducing water consumption. The project used natural,
ecological mechanisms to solve the problem instead of
expensive machinery and electricity. This resulted in
cost-savings, water-savings, greening, and beautification.
Its low technical and maintenance requirements were
suitable for this remote, tropical community. |
|
|
|
The community was topographically mapped
to determine flood levels and areas of soil inundation.
Results were also used to make maximal use of gravity-flow
and minimum pumping for flood-water season disposal
of final effluent.
As a result three Wastewater Gardens® totaling
90 m2 in area were constructed in June 2002.
In all the systems, wastewater flows to the Wastewater
Gardens® by gravity-flow. One system is totally
gravity-flow and uses no pumps for final movement to
a leachdrain, another system has pumps as an emergency
backup but will be able to use gravity-flow for 95%+
of most years, and one system (on the low end of the
community) will probably use pumps for 2-4 months, depending
on the severity of the rainy season and floodwater inundation.
The houses also demonstrate the separation of graywater
(showers, sinks, laundry machines) from blackwater (toilets
and kitchen wastewater), and since only blackwater goes
to the septic tanks, this improves septic tank operation
and mitigate the problems of excessive water consumption.
The problems with sewage causing bad health and environmental
damage were solved. In addition, the community has been
significantly greened and beautified using the treated
wastewater. |
|
|
ost saving compared to a centralized sewage treatment
plant was considerable (20-25% of the cost). The new
Wastewater Gardens® treatment systems have already
also stimulated a general cleanup of the community,
enhanced self-image, and catalyzed awareness within
the community of the need to conserve water since they
have been instructed on how their Wastewater Gardens®
function, and see the consequences of water usage in
the community.
Water quality tests have demonstrated the high degree
of water treatment already being achsieved (e.g. 89%
reduction in BOD, 90% in TSS, 73% reduction in total-N,
and 58% reduction in total-P). |
|
| • back to
top • |
|
|
| The community at Emu Creek (Gulgagulganeng) was consulted
and chose this approach. They advised on which plants
would be used in the Wastewater Gardens®, requesting
beautiful flowering plants and crops such as papaya, banana,
and coconut which can be safely harvested. Side shoots
and cuttings from the wide diversity of plants in the
systems (over 35 species) have been harvested from the
systems and distributed to the community for a more general
gardening and greening of the area.
Community members were employed during the construction
and trained in the maintenance and operation of the
new systems.
Workshops were held on the subjects of water conservation.
One indicator of the success of these workshops is that
traditional community leaders from the community designed
and painted their Dreamtime stories on the control boxes
of the systems affirming their ownership of the new
garden treatment systems, and they have directly educated
their children and prevented any vandalism of the new
systems. |
|
|
| The Wastewater Gardens® use no machinery or chemicals,
yet achieve high reduction of coliform bacteria (98+%)
and other wastewater contaminants, turning them into green
plants in lush, rapidly growing wetland ecosystems.
The systems are driven by warm temperatures and sunlight,
and can be expected to result in decades of high performance
due to the multiplicity of natural mechanisms (physical,
chemical and biological). The only imported materials
are the concrete or geomembrane liner, PVC pipe and
septic tank filters, all of which will last for decades
(far longer than a conventional STP).
The system will continue to function, given cleaning
of the gravel, or substitution of fresh gravel when
porosity of the original gravel declines (decades from
now). |
|
|
| Since the successful development of this initial pilot
project for community based wastewater treatment several
other community Wastewater Gardens® projects have
been built both in Australia and in Indonesia.
Yayasan IDEP Foundation has been working for sustianable
community development in Indonesia since 1998. Together
with Planetary Coral Reef Foundation, the developers
of the Wastewater Gardens® technology, we are committed
to spreading this technology into the areas most in
need.
We believe that this innovative technology offers a
viable solution for community based environmental and
health protection, and natural resource management.
This technology also empowers local communities as
they are involved at all stages of the development and
implementation of the systems. The public awareness
and education component of the program increases communities
understanding about the need for ongoing resource management
in their areas.
The low development cost and simple maintenance needs
of the systems make them applicable on a wide scale. |
|
|
| • click here
to see our index of related articles
/ project reports •
click here to go to our index of photos
of projects to date
|
|
| • back
to top • |
|
| ©2004 Wastewater Gardens® PCRF • www.pcrf.org
• Indonesia Rep. Yayasan IDEP : www.idepfoundation.org |
| |
| |
