Public Health International often sends public and environmental health specialists to remote areas of the world to conduct in-depth environmental studies. PHI does not charge for these services, but does try to develop follow-up programs to address the public and environmental health issues documented by its volunteers.
A few examples of such studies are:
Ecuador
The Galapagos Islands (1998)
PHI volunteers were asked to report on the water, sewer, and solid waste issues of the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz. PHI volunteers also designed a sanitary sewerage collection, treatment and disposal system for the city of Puerto Ayora.
The accepted method of disposal of all household and business sewage in Puerto Ayora is through the employment of the conventional septic tank. However, due to the volcanic nature of the island, the septic tanks were often placed on the ground surface with the untreated effluent discharging into crevasses which connected to the islands very limited underground water resources.
To overcome the difficulties of installing a conventional sewerage collect system in lava, PHI’s volunteers proposed and designed a Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP) System with land application after treatment.
PHI’s report proposes that all treated effluent be land-applied to the limited agriculturally developed land to the north of the city of Puerto Ayora. This allows for the beneficial reuse of all wastewater for agricultural purposes as will as providing the safe recharge of the Island’s limited groundwater resource.
|
![]()
The entire 8,000 plus inhabitants of the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz utilize septic tanks with the discharge of untreated effluent to the local ground-water table via volcanic crevasses.
|
![]()
On Santa Cruz, the domestic water is obtained from the same crevasses into which they discharge their untreated septic effluent.
|
Ecuador
The Galapagos Islands (1999)
PHI volunteers were asked to report on the water, sewer, and solid waste issues of the Galapagos Island of Isabela. PHI volunteers also designed a sanitary sewerage collection, treatment and disposal system for the city of Puerto Villamil.
The accepted method of disposal of half the household and business sewage in Puerto Villamil is through the employment of a gravity sewerage collection system with untreated effluent pumped into the Pacific Ocean.
Due to the volcanic nature of the Island, approximately only half of Puerto Villamil is included in the sewerage collection and disposal system. The sewerage collection system is limited to the sandy beachfront portion of the city. The remainder of Puerto Villamil sewerage is dealt with as it is in Puerto Ayora on the Island of Santa Cruz.
As on Santa Cruz, to overcome the difficulties of installing a conventional sewerage collect system in lava, PHI volunteers proposed and designed a Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP) System with land application after treatment.
PHI’s report proposes that all treated effluent be land-applied to the extensive agriculturally developed land in the central interior of the Island. This allows for the beneficial reuse of all wastewater for agricultural purposes as well as providing the safe recharge of the Island’s limited groundwater resource.
|
The untreated sewage from the city of Puerto Villamil discharges directly into the Pacific Ocean.
|
|
![]()
Whenever designing public health programs in the Galapagos, one must keep uppermost in mind the unique nature of the Islands and their animals.
|
Ecuador
Santa Elena Peninsula (2001)
Ecuador’s Santa Elena Peninsula is a coastal desert which experiences the periodic phenomenon of El Nino. The erosion of the local streambeds caused by the torrential rains and flooding of El Nino significantly lowers the groundwater table.
This gradual lowering of the groundwater table has forced more and more villages to utilize unsafe surface water for domestic purposes.
To reduce the peninsula’s dependence on unsafe surface water, PHI has installed over 60 village water systems utilizing protected groundwater sources. Along with the construction of each water system, PHI provides extensive training on system maintenance, source protection and proper treatment methods.
The continual lowering of the groundwater table will eventually render unsafe the local construction of hand dug domestic water wells.
Because of the poor economic base of the area, villagers are forced to rely on charcoal produced through the age-old practice of deforestation.
Public Health International sent volunteers to Ecuador to conduct a survey of the Peninsula to study its geology, the local results of the El Nino phenomenon and the effects of local deforestation.
Based on this study, PHI volunteers produced a report outlining a low cost and effective solution designed to develop reforestation and erosion control
programs for the peninsula. This report was delivered to the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (Polytechnic Institute) in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
PHI has also implemented an alternative fuel briquette press program to address the deforestation problem.
It is important to note that the erosion control program, designed by PHI volunteers, will not only control future erosion, but also has the potential to raise the natural groundwater table and to restore existing streambeds to their historic levels.
|
![]()
The historic groundwater table here was approximately three-quarters of the way up the stream bank. In an effort to enhance the local availability of developable safe domestic water sources, PHI volunteers Shane Hughes and Ralph Christensen designed a groundwater rejuvenation program for the peninsula in 2001.
|