Soluções individuais de abastecimento de água na comunidade Biguá, em Saudade do Iguaçu/PR: percepção da população consumidora

Abstract

The water quality is a relevant factor to public health, therefore needs, to go through a process of drinking water before consumption. Rural areas that are not served by conventional water treatment systems use alternative solutions that are often of poor quality, then it can leave the health of consumers vulnerable. In this context, the present work sought to evaluate the water quality used for human consumption in the rural communities of the city of Saudade do Iguaçu-PR, using secondary data from the Municipal Health Department. In addition, the structural and protective conditions of those solutions were inspected in the Biguá community and and microbiological quality of its water; Still in this community, this work sought to know an opinion of the consumers about the quality of the water consumed. The data from the Municipal Secretariat did not allow a diagnosis of water quality in rural communities because of inefficient monitoring. As for the protection measures of the alternative solutions, all had at least one form of protection, and approximately 48% of these measures were adequate; in addition, contaminant sources were found in 47.4% of the evaluated solutions.Regarding the opinion of the quality of water consumed in the Biguá community, 16% of the residents considered it to be of excellent quality and 64% of good quality; however, according to CONAMA Resolution number 396, all water samples from this community were not adequate for human consumption because they presented the presence of thermotolerant coliforms, It was verified that the forms of protection and the existence of contaminating sources in the surroundings of these systems had no association with the water quality. It was concluded that, for the period of study, the monitoring performed by the Health Department was scarce and, finally, that the residents of the Biguá community are susceptible to health problems due to fecal contamination in water consumed, thus it is necessary to implement treatment practices before consumption.