Back in the Saddle

thought I would share some of my work I am doing here in Monteverde on my blog. 

I think I have previously written that this year I am doing a water conservation project with the kids at the school and am mentoring two university students at the Monteverde Institute and helping them develop a water conservation audit and questionnaire for some of the hotels.  I am trying to copy and paste the brochure I wrote and Patti designed but this blog format doesn't like the pdf link.  In any event, doing all this work made me think that as a next step I really ought to see what Toto toilets might do to reduce the cost of toilets for the region.  So, I wrote the letter below to the regional director of Toto toilets and it seems they are interested.  Now what?????

Dear....

As I mentioned in my previous email, I am a volunteer working in Monteverde with the Monteverde Institute and the Friends School (Escula de los Amigos). I am writing to you at the suggestion of Toto Toilets USA because your firm is the distributor of Toto products in Costa Rica

By way of introduction, the Monteverde Institute is a non-profit organization that offers multidisclipinary courses in tropical ecology, conservation, sustainable development and local culture. Several international and national universities use the facility on a regular basis as does the local community for classes and programs. The Monteverde Friends School was founded in 1951 by Quaker families who immigrated to Costa Rica. The school has grown and now represents Quaker, local Costa Rican and international families. Although many of the local families are of quite modest means, the school and the Institute's ability to integrate and to tap into the broad knowledge base of the diverse local community has created one of the most unique communities in Costa Rica.

If you have never been here, the Monteverde region lies on the upper Pacific Slope of the Cordillera de Tilarian. The region is spectacular. It contains more than 40% of the bio-diversity in Costa Rica and globally it represents 2%, which is a huge amount given its relative size. Recognizing the need to protect this biologically rich ecosystem the small Quaker community established the first protected lands in the region in 1972, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Since then several internationally famous reserves in the bio-region have been established.

As in most of Costa Rica, there are two seasons in Monteverde – the wet season and the dry. The total annual rainfall in the Monteverde region (Guacimal watershed) varies between 1500 – 3000 mm per year. Most domestic and commercial potable drinking water comes from five community aqueduct systems (AyA) found within the region. These systems get their supply from groundwater springs.

Over the past several years there has been a regional increase in population, an increase in eco-tourism, and we are beginning to see the ecological effects of climate change. The result is that frequent water shortages are occurring in some communities during the dry season.

This year the Friends School, the Monteverde Institute and The Cloud Forest School have created a joint project for incorporating water conservation into the lives of the local community to ensure that there will be clean fresh water for the future. It is the community's view that there is a real need to protect the water resources of the region in order to protect the biologically diverse ecosystem and to support a sustainable community.

As a first step the students at the Friends School have conducted home-based water audits. University students at the Institute are designing a similar survey for some of the environmentally-conscious hotels. A bilingual water conservation brochure has been developed for the local community* and the Upper Monteverde AyA, will distribute it with their monthly bills as a pilot project for the larger region. (*See attached draft brochure)

The second step is to actually start reducing home-based water use. As you know, toilets are usually one of the biggest water users in a home. The preliminary findings from our water audits indicate most of the residents in the Upper Monteverde AyA have older less efficient toilets. There are 90 consumers in this AyA and while most of these residents have a strong conservation ethic, they also have very limited incomes.

This is where we would appreciate your assistance. Simply stated what can you offer in terms of a discount on Toto toilets? Ideally we would like to offer all residents a reduced rate if they purchase and install a low flush toilet. My understanding is that if your firm is able to provide a reduction the AyA has agreed in principle to match this rate. Our collective goal is to see if we can achieve 50% of the Upper Monteverde AyA's consumers installing low flush toilets.

I am happy to discuss how we plan to distribute the toilets and/or provide other background information if you wish, but it will be helpful to know if your firm is in a position to help us conserve water in this ecologically unique region.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Susie Washington Smyth

Next steps:  The Upper Monteverde AyA wants to meet with me so I'm off to do that on Friday after school.  Hopefully I will hear back again from Toto by then.   I already got one email that sounds like they are interested and now I wait to see how interested.....stay tuned.