downtown puerto morelos

composting toilets

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by Tim Willmott : Comments Off on composting toilets

Local environmentalists and concerned citizens in the Mexican town of Puerto Morelos teamed up with the ReSource Institute for Low Entropy Systems in 1993 to find a way to protect coral reefs and fresh water resources in and around this coastal community. The partnership has resulted in the construction of hundreds of ReSource Composting Toilets and a soaring demand for this ecological technology in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The state of Quintana Roo is home to one of Mexico’s most popular tourism destinations, Cancun, attracting nearly 2 million tourists a year. Nearby Puerto Morelos is what Cancun looked like 30 years ago, with clear Caribbean waters, fine beaches, the world’s second largest barrier reef and an underground system of freshwater rivers beneath its limestone foundation. This rich ecosystem however, has been threatened in recent years by the pollution, rapid development and environmental degradation that previously tainted Cancun.

One serious problem identified by local ecologists, health officials, and community members, is human excreta filtering into groundwater from latrines, septic tanks, and open-air defecation. At the city’s request, the ReSource Institute introduced Puerto Morelos’ first composting toilet and has mapped out a strategy for developing toilet systems and greywater treatment that prevent pollution of the groundwater and nutrient discharge into the groundwater, reefs, and mangroves while improving public health in the neighbourhood.

For more information about composting toilets go to Composting Toilet World. No. Really.

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Puerto Morelos

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Puerto Morelos 20.848249, -86.876106 Puerto MorelosPuerto Morelos, Q.R., Mexico (Directions)

 

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