June 9th

Once done with our morning routine, the group walked down to the Municipality of Ocongate. There we had the mayor of the city, Armando Quipe talk to us about the changing development of the district. He opened by talking about the kinds of  projects they hold and how different it has become in the past few years. Ever since the highway was built, eight years ago, there has been an increase to economic production, yet Quipe insists that there should be a process where the city needs to rethink the social aspect. With the roads being built education has also been on the rise, still sixty percent of the money that is invested towards an education is being used for infrastructure, technology, and libraries. Along with education for children, the district educates adults on agriculture, which was the highest form of work fifteen years ago, animal husbandry, textiles, forestation, weather, health and reducing, reusing and recycling.

After listening to Armando Quipe talk, we headed out with Cipieus Alarco Espinoza to a landfill and recycling center. From my life, I have never been to a landfill anywhere, but do remember someone telling me that the United States’ major export is trash because it does not do the best job in getting rid of trash. Unfortunately, with the highway opening more waste was created for the workers in the landfill. When I heard about the thirty four cities the workers of the landfill attend to it made me want to at the very least give them beverages and snacks. The workers sort through each and every piece of trash from the two to three tons they receive from the surrounding areas for four to five hours…daily.

Earlier in the day at the Municipality of Ocongate Armando Quipe had told us that it starts within the communities, where mostly women separate through inorganic and organic waste and recyclable and non-recyclable waste, as well. This helps by keeping contamination out of the natural world. According to Quipe, where there is a higher populated village in the district of Ocongate, the trash pick-up service comes every week and a village with a lower concentration of people comes every two weeks.

Something I was not in agreement with at first was that the landfill also deals with health care, educational, and gas station waste. After listening to Espinoza saying that they know how much of a threat it is to the environment and it is the only ‘safe’ way in Ocongate to handle the materials I came into terms with them. My favorite thing I saw at the dump was the way they used plastic and glass bottles as ornaments. Another thing I really liked seeing was the compost area they had created with the organic waste.

Espinoza had said that the way they deal with toxins was very efficient, and I could see its ups and downs with the process, especially since it was the first time I was ever at a landfill and recycling place. So what they do is separate items by different categories, like rubber, batteries, organic/inorganic, recyclable/non-recyclable, plastic, etc. Whatever cannot be recycled or is not a battery is then thrown into the landfill. After being thrown in, there is a pipe that runs to another part in the landfill where there is filtration system for liquid to run downs to. Then the liquid that has traveled to the area is kept there for some time until some of it evaporates itself, whatever liquid is left is toxic and placed back into the first landfill it came from and sealed with melted glass and cement. Sometimes the workers may deal with abortions, too; where then they have to contact authorities. The problem with the garbage disposal area is that they will have to move to a new part in less than 15 years.

            When finished with the waste plant we hopped back into the bus and went down to the reforestation area near the city of Ocongate. Here we learned that with the reforestation project they have started to plant more exotic trees than native trees, but why is that? Espinoza told us that exotic trees like pine and eucalyptus are both for economic and ecological use while reducing CO₂ emissions; while native trees like chacocumo, I believe is what they were called, are more for economic reasons and the production of wood. The best part about the reforestation project, I think, is that the workforce is made up of both genders. Unfortunately, from my understanding the workers only are constantly changing every two months due to a signed contract.

            The process starts in one of the seventeen greenhouses they have around the Ocongate area. Exotic trees are usually there for two years and native trees are kept for longer periods because they take more time to grow. Depending on the greenhouse and plant bed most can hold up to 250,000 trees at a greenhouse and 2,500 in a plant bed, and once they are 30-40 centimeters long they are able to be taken out. A pine can start having mushrooms growing around the base creating another economic growth after five years of being planted. When the eucalyptus is around six or seven years of age it can also start seeding the land near the plant itself. These trees were carefully selected and imported into Peru from the United States, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe. Because exotic trees can have an economic growth in the district after 10 or 15 years Ocongate relies on these more than native trees because they take 45 or more years to grow. Still, Espinoza claimed that both exotic and native trees are resistant to diseases and is why they keep on planting these certain trees. What I found interesting at the reforestation plant was how they flooded the native trees, because if you look around the country it is very dry and desert-like.

            Water is an importance to trees, as well as for humans that is where we went next, the water treatment plant of Ocongate. This was the most difficult part of the day for most of us. Though we didn't have to go through three different checkpoints, the hike was enough for someone who was trying to get to the water plant. Ocongate’s water treatment plant isn't even comparable to Lima’s. Espinoza said that there is at least one person at the plant 24/7.

            At the plant we listened to how the process was, and it is very simple, and seems much faster than Lima’s. First the water from the top of the hill/mountain falls down and gets collected into a reservoir. Then it goes into the water plant itself and goes through two “fast” filters. The filters are filled with different sized gravel. What I understood was that the bigger sized gravel was at the bottom, and the finer sized gravel was at top of the filter. Once done with the "fast" filters it runs through a third filter where the flocculant is collected and separated. Chlorine is then added to the water and tested to see if it is good for the public. After this process it is then injected with aluminum oxide so it can travel through pipes easily without causing corrosion to pipes. I like that it is only working at around fifty percent of what it can, but the problem is that there is still not enough water from the ecosystem to ration to all the people of the Ocongate District. Especially when Dr. Garcia and Dr. Davis told us about a tiny pipe where only about the amount of water that is sucked through a straw drains into the reservoir at the bottom of the water plant.