Greywater natural treatment
Progresses are going fast in Kiulu! The environmental protection compromise is still on and our baby project is starting to achieve greater goals! This new activity was under the environmental education program initiated in October of last year and took place in Mantob village. The MUKEST president gently offered his house for the expositive presentation, where villagers engaged with this society came to learn new methods of water waste management.
For a start, the sustainability concept was approached, explaining the intrinsic value of nature conservancy in order to protect our future generations. The audience was asked to identify which of their current habits they considered to be bad for the environment and some were mentioned, such as chemical use on farming and plastic burning.
At first, a review was made about solid waste disposal, insisting for the eradication of one of the most common practices in these rural areas: plastic burning. An article was delivered, reporting all the direct and indirect dangerous of this activity, mentioning once and again the importance of recycling. Along, two simple tutorials were given, describing how to do a compost pile and the banana circle. This last mentioned system was the main subject of the day and followed by a practical example on field.
The banana circle is a three-in-one method, representing multiple functions: composting, greywater natural treatment and food production. Greywater is all the after use water coming from shower, sinks and laundry, containing traces of grease, hair and washing products. As banana plants are very hungry beings, they’ll absorb really fast this water, avoiding their infiltration in the groundwaters, rivers and estuaries.
In the tropics, like Kiulu, this is a very cheap, ecological and simple system to implement, to easily solve the problem of soil and water pollution in remote villages without any kind of greywater handling. Instead of banana plants, papayas can also be used or even coconut palm trees for bigger spaces.
In this practical application, other plant species were placed around the banana shoots, including yam, sweet potato and lemongrass, creating a balanced inter-crop system where each plant represents a beneficial role for its neighbours.
Hopefully, soon we will be able to see this implementation in all MUKEST villages. Big hurray to them!
TERIMA KASIH!
Filipa Gomes (BET intern)
