Vale Encantado’s sanitation problems have become a central issue for the Vale Encantado Cooperative, an organization created in 2007 in an effort to generate employment and income for local residents. Sustainable tourism-related activities offered by the Cooperative were threatened by the contamination in the water and forest.
Otávio Barros, president of the Cooperative and of the Residents’ Association, began researching alternative ways to treat the community’s waste and sewage. As a result of Barros’ search, Vale Encantado’s first biodigester was installed in 2014 to serve the Cooperative’s restaurant.
Biodigesters function as large containers where the organic material deposited is consumed by bacteria. The process generates at least three byproducts: biogas, liquid biofertilizer and fertilizer.
The first biodigester installed for the Cooperative’s restaurant operates using food waste to supply biogas to the Cooperative’s kitchen.
The second biodigester, built in 2015, integrates a biosystem to treat sewage, and depends in part on a root zone filter. Although it was designed to serve all 28 houses, so far only five homes in Vale Encantado have had their sewage channeled into this biodigester, which is already able to produce biogas to meet the energy demands of one family.
This English subtitled documentary is the latest contribution to the series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. About the artist: Illustrator Yara Santos is a student of generalist design at the University of São Paulo (USP). Born and raised in the periphery of São Paulo, she seeks to represent elements of the black and peripheral culture in which she is inserted into her art. Most of her production is centered on digital techniques.
