El Salvador: Water Sanitation Taylor Rogers, Briana Ciccarino and Conor Harden Development Econ 348D.01 April 2015

Where in the world is El Salvador?

El Salvador: Background

• Colonial past, but was not valued as much as other Latin American countries– 1821: independence from Spain

– 1838: independence from federation of Central American states

– Primary product was indigo then it became coffee

– 14 families took over as part of an oligarchy

• Suffered from a 12 year civil war from 1980-1992; peace accords in 1993

• Civil war was partly funded by the United States who supported the Salvadoran Government

• Many of the rebels who fought in the FMLN, came from the countryside

• Today: El Salvador is ridden with gang violence that causes displacement within the country and emigration

Our Topic: Contaminated Water

• El Sal gets 6 feet of rainfall per year (NPR)

• Contaminated water caused by the 2001 earthquake

• How does it become contaminated?– Deforestation: trees used to store rain

water (one of the most deforested countries in Latin America)

– Mining: for gold (which uses cyanide to separate gold)

– Livestock: pollute rivers– Latrines: too close to shallow wells– Companies: dispose of chemicals in

water– Trash: throw into rivers/bodies of water

because of lack of education and a privatized disposal service

Facts:• Population: 7 million; 5 million live in the countryside

• 500 children die every year from diseases transmitted by dirty water

• UN projects that in 20-30 years, El Salvador won’t have any natural water and people will have to migrate

•  El Salvador is the most water stressed country in C.A. – Are deep wells the solutions?• Donors give money to build them but not to maintain them

•  “Here there is water only where there is money; the rest of us are out of luck,” said Julio César Amaya, who gets by with the water he manages to collect by crawling out of bed every night. (Inter Press Service News Agency)

Costs and Benefits • These improvements tend to be very expensive. Therefore

we decided on low technology alternatives to help mitigate the problem

• According to the WHO, investments in water sanitation return about $3-$34 dollars for every dollar invested.

• This coupled with point of use disinfection could yield $5-$60 dollars per every dollar invested

• Furthermore, the reductions in health care costs and a healthier population provides more benefits to the implementation of these latrines

Our Suggested Solution:

Solar Powered Latrines

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation competition• Winner: CalTech

Hypothetical Costs• Using the CalTech, this costs 5 cents per day

• Say 100 are installed and 100 people use it every day: it would cost 500 a day or $182,500 a year

• However the return on this investment would be about 365,000 on the low end and will likely be much higher than a 3 dollar return for every dollar spent

Other Options

• Solar panels and collects rainwater (above)

• decomposes waste at high temperatures without oxygen and turns it into biological charcoal (left)

In Today’s CitiesPortland, OR--Portland Loo

Sources:

• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4983325 • http://www.progressio.org.uk/blog/empowered-blog/el-salvador-problem-

water • http://www.thenation.com/blog/181717/fight-keep-toxic-mining-out-el-

salvador#• http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/12/el-salvador-most-water-stressed-country-

in-central-america/ • http://water.worldbank.org/shw-resource-guide/infrastructure/menu-

technical-options/pit-latrines• http://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Reinvent-the-Toilet-Challenge-

Photo-Gallery • http://renewablesoc.com/2012/08/16/bill-gates-4-1m-solar-powered-toilets/ • http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/solar-powered-toilets-of-the-world-a-

comprehensive-guide