In Tepoztlán, a highland municipality in Mexico’s Morelos state, a small pilot project aims to demonstrate the promise of ecological sanitation, a sustainable approach to sewage treatment. Over the past three years, organizers have installed dry toilets, gray-water filters, rainwater collectors and composting systems for a growing network of homes and schools. Signs that such projects are getting attention on the global stage were in evidence last month little over an hour away—in Mexico City, where ecological sanitation was a focus of discussion at the 4th World Water Forum. Ecological sanitation is a method of handling sewage with a closed-loop system in which human waste is sanitized and recycled. Water conservation and nutrient capture are key goals of the method, which involves... [Log in to read more]