The New Poopmobile Makes for Happy Microbes!

We now have an improved routine for getting water to our compost site in Port-au-Prince thanks to your outstanding response to our Poopmobile emergency donation drive in May! With the new Poopmobile, our compost team can transport multiple heavy cisterns of our own water several times a week rather than pay for a water truck to visit the compost site once a month. This means we get more water to our compost for less money. We used to spend $200 a month on transporting water to the site, and now we only pay for gas to get there on the Poomobile!

How it works:

Fortuitously, SOIL has a natural spring that bubbles up in the garden behind our Port-au-Prince office.  SOIL volunteer Eric Nyman transformed what was standing water that attracted mosquitos to a beautiful oasis that now supports fish, turtles, ducks, and lots of beneficial insects.

Pumping water from the well

We recently purchased a new water pump, so we can now transfer the water from our spring-fed well to large cisterns, and then onto the Poopmobile and off to the composting site, Troutier. (Our last Poopmobile, may she rest in peace, could not have managed such frequent heavy loads.)

With this new system, we hope to decrease the amount of time that it takes to transform human waste into valuable compost from 10 months to 6 months. Needless to say, we are all thrilled about this improvement!

Gasper waters a bin full of compost at the Troutier composting site in Port-au-Prince

Why does compost need to be watered?

Our compost at Truitier is covered with small shelters and/or tarps to prevent the hot sun from quickly drying it out. Compost is great at retaining moisture, which is essential for keeping the microbes that break down organic matter alive and thriving.

A huge thank you again to everyone who donated toward the purchase of the new Poopmobile! Each dollar given to SOIL goes such a long way in helping us to make more nutrient-rich compost.