El Salvador Latrine Project

Background

The Las Pilitas neighborhood is located on the southern fringe of San Pedro Puxtla in El Salvador. Situated in a ravine, the community floods heavily during the rainy season. At the time of the project, no safe form of human waste containment or removal existed in the village, causing the only available water supply to become contaminated. Combined with recurring flood runoff, residents faced serious risk of waterborne disease.

Response

The Central Ohio Professionals chapter of EWB led the broader project in this community, which included constructing a road to connect Las Pilitas to the neighboring town. EWB at Ohio State assisted with the preliminary sanitation phase in partnership with EWB-COH.

Proper sanitation infrastructure had to be installed before road construction could begin, so that a water line could be safely placed beneath it. EWB-OSU's work on this phase laid the groundwork for the larger infrastructure improvements that followed.