In Some Communities, Flushing the Toilet is a Luxury

Photo: A group of community members and organizational partners representatives come together for the inauguration of a Dry Toilet in San Cayetano.

The community of San Cayetano, located little more than an hour away from urban San Miguel, has a community well that’s been operating for years. However, the water doesn’t reach all the residents equally. Gabriela Govea, a mother of four – three pre-adolescent-to-teenage daughters and a toddler son – who lives in San Cayetano knows what this means all too well: 

“I live on the other side of the community, and we not only lacked access to water, but we [also] didn’t have a toilet at all. I have three daughters, and we would have to go to dangerous places to do our basic needs.” 

Safe sanitation is frequently overlooked, yet it is a critical health and security concern in areas where water scarcity is a harsh reality. This may be shocking to many of you, but thousands in our region are often left choosing to use the little water they have between basic needs like drinking water or a flushing toilet. Worse yet, many families simply don’t have enough water for it to be a choice at all. Fortunately, a simple yet transformative solution exists: composting toilets.

Photos: Staff of Caminos de Agua conducting a visit to one of the Dry Toilets at a beneficiaries house.

The Promise of Dry, Composting Toilets

Unlike traditional toilets, which use significant amounts of water, properly built composting toilets are hygienic and completely dry, meaning they use no water at all. This innovation allows families in water-scarce regions to allocate their limited water resources to drinking, cooking, and bathing without sacrificing their sanitation needs.

This is why Caminos de Agua and our partners at the Gonzalo Río Arronte Foundation and CUVAPAS (United Communities for Life and Water) – one of our longest-term grassroots partners – are committed to expanding this life-changing technology. Two years ago, we extended this partnership further with the local experts at GAIA, A.C. who have years of experience in designing, building, and training people, mostly women, on the use and maintenance of dry toilets. This collaboration ensures that these composting toilets are not only installed but also embraced and well maintained by the communities we partner with. Thanks to this deeply collaborative effort, as well as support from individual donors like you who make all of our programs possible, we constructed the first 37 dry toilets as a test case as part of our larger “Agua y Salud” (Water and Health) project. Gabriela was one of those first families.  

"Now that we have a dry toilet, I feel really fortunate. It’s such a blessing because I’m now finally able to give a dignified living situation to [my daughters]." 

– Gabriela Govea

With the test proving successful, our work is now just beginning in earnest because far too many families still lack dignified access to basic sanitary facilities, leaving women and children particularly vulnerable as they navigate the risks of seeking privacy outdoors. And, although we are working to lower costs, the reality is that composting toilets are expensive, requiring extensive education and follow-up as well as the building of an entire small structure outside the home for each family. In the next phase of this program, we are planning to build 45 new dry, composting toilets by mid-2025, providing safe, sustainable, and dignified solutions for families like Gabriela's while conserving precious water resources.

Photo: Beneficiaries of the Dry Composting Toilet Program.