Proposta de índice de priorização de áreas para saneamento rural: estudo de caso assentamento 25 de maio, CE.

Abstract

Water scarcity in semiarid regions associated with lack of sanitation make reservoirs vulnerable to contamination, resulting in eutrophication and damage to communities’ public health that use them. It’s necessary propose mechanisms that can help to identify which reservoirs are in the most critical situation for implementation of actions able to control and reverse this process. The difficulty of prioritizing areas for implementation of rural sanitation is a factor that affects or limits the government intervention due the lack of management tools and planning. The research propose the construction of an index for prioritizing areas for rural sanitation - IPAS, incorporating environmental, sociocultural and socioeconomic characteristics. The study area is located on the 25 de Maio rural settlement (Madalena, Ceará State) that covers an area of 23,000 ha, home to 586 families, organized in 13 communities. To compose the index, were made diagnoses of sanitation conditions, analysis of tanks and reservoirs water quality, hydrological data collection, use and occupation, rate of nutrient export and social capital. The results presented that water supply is insufficient to these communities, as disposal of waste and sewage solids are precarious too. For tanks, the main source of water, the results indicated presence of organic matter and fecal coliform, classifying 30% of the tanks with poor sanitary conditions because of inadequate management of them. The water supply comes from small and micro reservoirs and water quality of these was better in the dry than wet season. Also, activities developed in settlement ponds basins are contributing to eutrophication, with extensive livestock as the main activity of degrading water quality. In sum, the index proposed identified, by hierarchy, the reservoirs that need major priority to sanitation actions.