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The close proximity of two Guatemalan villages to the turquoise lagoons of Sepalau in Chisec, Alta Verapaz, made these lakes the communal washing site for over 200 families. As a result, the lagoons were contaminated with soap and bleach chemicals. Community members, with the help of a Guatemalan sustainable development organization (Fundacion Solar), the United States Peace Corps and Sandia National Laboratories, designed an electric submersible water pump system used to fill cement communal washing station tanks that were to be built in the jungle surrounding the lagoons. The proposal was prepared and submitted with a detailed budget to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Mission in Guatemala in 2004. As part of the project, ‘‘Artificial Wetlands’’ were built in a series of three drainage ponds connected to the washing station by tubing, designed to treat the soap and bleach contaminated wastewater with native plants before it flowed back into the lagoons. These plants are very effective in removing chemicals associated with soaps. The project’s implementation successfully improved the environmentally destructive washing practices of the women who had been washing for many years in the lagoons, and has raised the health and economic status of community members. To ensure project sustainability, payment and washing schedules were established in a 2-month training course for the community members after construction. Currently, the community uses funds from a small washing fee that is collected to repair the pump and maintain the site.

This model can be applied and improved upon in many other delicate regions of the world where clothing is washed or general wastewater is produced. Worldwide, many people wash at the mouth of caves and in karstic rivers, where the porosity and natural drainage properties of the surrounding bedrock can spread contamination far beyond what is visible. Social organization and establishment of rules and regulations must be made a top priority to ensure project sustainability. The people who use the system must establish their own rules as a group, and all potential users should participate in setting up regulations. Community members should participate in the construction, management, administration and day to day decision making in order to feel a genuine sense of ownership of a project. A feeling of community ownership and management helps promote the long-term sustainability of all development projects (Fig. 10). ‘‘We want to conserve our natural heritage, the lagoons are sacred to us, but here at Sepalau and Sepoc, we don’t have another option. We must wash in the lagoons. We don’t have lights or potable water.