Bamboo Water Bottle:
This is my favorite project I worked on in the valley this past week. It is one section of bamboo cut above and below the notches. After you have a section you either drill or punch a whole into one end where you will fill and drink from. An optional step is to make little holes on the end of each bamboo above the notches (careful not to puncture the container) to run a string through so you can hold it on your back without it being in the way.
The bamboo water bottle is the best choice for a water container if you find yourself lost in the jungle and in need of one. It should last you a while but will begin to crack overtime and you will need to replace it. Hopefully you escape the jungle by then!
Shirt Water Filter:
So this is my jungle water filter, it is composed of one T-shirt, 3 small sticks stuck into the ground, charcoal, grass clippings, and sand. The shirt is tied to each stick, which are in a triangle formation, and formed into the shape of a bowl. The filtration is composed of Charcoal on the bottom, followed by sand, and finally grass clippings. I filtered quite a bit of water from the Rio Pacora before I actually tried any water i filtered through it. My only concern about this method is the effectiveness of all water getting filtered equally which would allow contaminants through and that the water comes out dirtier looking then when put in but that doesn’t mean it isn’t clean. The water was most likely dyed by either the grass, charcoal, or sand.
In the end I would recommend this only if you don’t have any other means of filtration and are more than positive there are contaminants in the water, otherwise I would save energy on constructing this and just risk drinking the water you collect.
Another project I finally completed was a double leveled vermicompost unit and have it set up to drip liquid to collect for a vermicompost tea solution. The compost produced from the worms will be an extremely potent gardening soil and the vermicompost tea can be used as either an organic fertilizer or if developed properly into a organic pesticide. Once the worms get really up and going we can increase the size of their containment units and be a valuable resource for the Kalu Yala agriculture department.