Although I left Guatemala over a year ago, I am happy to learn the the men of San Lucas, Uspantan, continued using the skills learned building with tires. These are photos of small retaining walls and stairs supporting the work of footbridges built by Bridges to Prosperity, a US based NPO/NGO.
You made a comment on a previous post about the need to both collect and filter runoff water to receive drinkable water. You might want to check out the methods that the earthship (earthship dot com) created by michael reynolds utilizes to gather rain water from both runoff and roof-top collection systems in any area that receives more than 6" of rainfall a year. They are also developing systems of indwelling cisterns feeding clean water to wash/drink then ultimately taking this used/gray water to feed agricultural needs, filtering it through a agricultural/sediment filtration system, and using it to flush the toilets. This black water is fed through a modified septic tank whose output feeds 3-4 containment beds with plant life specifically designed to clean the water enough to reduce the impact on the surrounding environment/habitat.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to get permission to build a retaining wall of tires here in west virginia and the county commissioners office is being head strong because of the stigma against used tires. Any information you might have such as the contact information for the architect that designed your setup would be absolutely beneficial. My contact informationi s rjt027@yahoo dot com.
How did you get involved in the PCV? I'm a Registered Nurse, and I'm going stir crazy in the states.
Thanks!
-Rob