Puerto Rico Wastewater Garden system is thriving after 20 years of operation
During December 2022, Dr. Mark Nelson visited and worked at the Las Casas de la Selva sustainable
rainforest timber project near Patillas, Puerto Rico, a project to which the Institute of Ecotechnics
consults.
The Wastewater Garden system which was installed in 2002 with support from the Puerto Rican Department of Natural Resources is still functioning quite well. It has weathered two hurricanes in the past 5 years and still works to purify and recycle wastewater from the project homestead to protect the mountain streams which fed the Patillas Reservoir, which supplies drinking water and irrigation for over a hundred thousand people.
Photos of the Wastewater Garden system at Las Casas de la Selva homestead, Patillas, Puerto Rico.
The hedge of vetiver grass upslope of the WWG was planted to prevent soil movement and has worked excellently in an area which receives an average of 120 inches (3000 mm) per year.
