TRCT and ECOPLUS have been working together to set up the pilot site to purify the water from toilet in Thol village. The system has completed in mid-March, and it will be tested in coming months and years. The project is supported by Japan Fund for Global Environment, JFGE.
The system was designed by Professor, Nakano Kazunori of Nihon University in Japan. To decompose human waste and purify the wastewater, the system uses natural mechanism called as “artificial wetland”.
Human waste is not harmful as it is, since it comes out from human body. However, if it just soaked into the ground, in the deeper part, Nitrogen will be changed into nitrate nitrogen, which is harmful for human. Contamination of underground water by the nitrate nitrogen is one of serious risks for cancers.
To avoid such contamination, Oxygen rich environment will avoid making nitrate nitrogen.
So, Prof. Nakano designed the system to use oxygen, or air, mixed environment. The first and second layer of the system are packed with rough gravels and smaller ones with 1 foot thickness. The last layer is 1-foot-thick sea sand. Passing through those filters which contains air, wastewater will be composed and purified.
Such system is already in use in Japan. This time it will be tested in different climate condition from Japan. During the next months and years, the system will be checked, be maintained and will be changed accordingly.
TRCT is now conducting the project to establish eco-tour in Tamil with the support from JICA, Japan International Corporation Agency, and with the partner with ECOPLUS.
The aim is to promote a community based small economy for the sustainable community to generate money for education, medication and healthy community.
In the concept of “ECO-TOUR,” not like mass commercial tourism, we carefully invite people who respect our tradition and nature and who want to touch and learn our way of life here in Yap.
The size of the tour will be only a few people in each village and the villagers will introduce them into their normal daily life. Activities will be carefully prepared to minimize the environmental, social and economic impacts.
In the later part of 2024, some model tours will be conducted inviting participants of ECOPLUS study tour programs in past decades. The tour will be carefully expanded for the general public who want to experience in this island where the nature, culture, and traditions are well preserved.
In early March, we first checked the condition of the tank.
When we opened the big lid, we were surprised to see the blackish shining surface. It was oily and sticky, 3-4 millimeters thick layer.
And two big holes were also found. One hole was just under the pipe inlet, may be the water dropping in made the hole. Through such holes, water may be run quickly without enough filtering.
We need to resolve two issues, oily layer and holes.
We decided just remove oily materials from the surface and keep it next to the wall not through away out of the tank.
For holes we decided to fill with sand and coconut fiber. Also we planned to set a wooden pallet on the surface where water dropping in.
Let us see how the condition will be the same in coming months.
Is the filtering tank working well to clean the waste water?
Through the laboratory test, it is confirmed the tank is surely reduce the pollution.
At the site, we checked the value of COD, Chemical Oxygen Demand. The values of both, before and after the filtering, were the same around 120 mg per little. A bit strange result.
So Jun brought back the sample water to Japan and asked the laboratory test.
Sample A before the filtering.Sample B after the filtering.
The result was the value of COD reduced from 200 to 130 mg/l. BOD, Biological Oxygen Demand, was also reduced from 370 to 200. (Correction: I am sorry that I was saying the values were reduced more than half. It was wrong.)
Somehow the value of surfactant which is harmful specially within some weeks after discharging into the nature, was increased from 54 to 290 mg/l. It was considered as the result of maintenance work of the tank. Oily layer at the top of sand filter might be catching surfactant and was released after the maintenance work, Prof. Nakano suggested.
In other words, surfactant was well trapped inside of the tank, not released into the ecosystem.
We may keep monitoring the water quality continuously. New test kit for COD was already sent to Yap from Japan. So let us see the result…
How we can purify the bubbled water with a lot of chemical materials?
We asked help to Professor Nakano at Nihon University in Japan.
It is of course important to have clean clothes for comfortable life but just take a look of the backside of the laundromat and follow the situation of waste water.
He is a professional on “artificial wetland” to purify the waste water.
He kindly came to Yap in 2017 and since then, he has been supporting our activities.
With his suggestion, we use a big tank for the filtering. In the 1,500 gallons tank, we set sand and coconut fiber inside for three layers. All the mechanism was set in December 2022.
Now the tank is working to purify the waste water.
Did you see the back side of the laundromat? Let us see the situation together.
In Yap, many laundromats are in active every day and demand for washing is still increasing.
It is of course important to have clean clothes for comfortable life but just take a look of the backside of the laundromat and follow the situation of waste water.
Some chemicals from the detergents are harmful for the environment and human. Careful use of chemical detergent is one of the key to protect environment and your health.
Collected sea cucumbers were filled in 4 big buckets.
Sea cucumbers released.
Waiting the darkness on the boat.
Sea cucumber farm.
On January 24, Ken, Janice of TRCT, David of Meerur village, Elijan and Salven of College of Micronesia, COM, conducted sea cucumber collection work in night time at the sea cucumber farm just out of the beach of the village. Jun and myself of ECOPLUS joined the operation.
It was very clear evening. We waited until it was getting dark on the boat, since sea cucumbers would come out from the sand in the darkness. The depth of the water was about chest level. the farm area was like 100 meters square, and was separated by net from outside.
Inside of the net, we put our head into the water. Janice and I made a pair, and I helped her carrying a flash light. With flashlight we tried to find sea cucumbers. It was difficult to identify sea cucumbers inside of dense long sea weed leaves. We also needed to walk and dive gently not to disturb water and sands to keep the visibility.
I surprised how fast Janice was to find and catch sea cucumbers. However, later, she said that she could not touch a sea cucumber when the project started three years ago.
Through out four hours in the ocean, we collected 686 sea cucumbers. After counting numbers, we released those into open water area.
This was the final work of the sea cucumber farming project. After releasing all grown sea cucumbers from the farm, the net wall will be reported and another farming project will be started.
It was really tough work. But we observed see so many stars over the ocean.
Reported by GOTO Haruka, a volunteer staff of ECOPLUS/TRCT, a student of WASEDA University, Tokyo
Rain Water Harvesting, RWH, system under Readiness for El Niño, RENI, project held by The Pacific Community, SPC, at Tamil community was completed and the training session was held on Jan 28, 2020.
As a part of RENi, supported by European Union, the tanks were set in November 2019 at Tamil Elementary School and since then the experimental operation of the system has been conducted until now. Specialists from Fiji checked the status of the system this time and also conducted the training session toward the community members.
On Tuesday, school teachers, coordinators of Tamil Resources Conservation Trust, TRCT, and other community members joined the specialists and Mr. Sean Gaarad, the country coordinator for SPC as well as the president of TRCT, at the cafeteria of the school and learnt the mechanism of and ways to maintain the system.
Rain over the roof is gathered through gutter and objects, like leaves, are removed through meshed funnel called “leaf eater” then water is filtered by sand. After the purification, water is stored in four tanks which can hold 1,500 litters in each. The full amount of water will support community members providing 3 littles of clean water for each for up to three weeks.
In the Pacific region, a serious El Niño was recorded in 2016 and raise serious droughts in several islands for up to 11 months. In Yap, no rain was recorded for months in the year and in Tamil serious wild fires burnt almost 1 kilometer square area.
EU set the project RENi from 2017-2020, providing 4 million Euro to set water tanks for the emergency in several island communities through SPC.
Reported by GOTO Haruka, a volunteer staff of ECOPLUS/TRCT, a student of WASEDA University, Tokyo
