Índice e classificação da insegurança hídrica domiciliar no município de Apodi – RN

Abstract

In Apodi, municipality of the western potiguar mesoregion, several problems are involved in the issue of access and distribution of water. Despite being located in the Northeast of Brazil, where the physical and natural conditions are not favorable to the abundant supply and storage of water, the municipality has a large hydrological supply, with free aquifers of high hydrological potential and the second largest water reserve. superficial state. Even with this seemingly favorable situation, rural and urban populations face a number of water supply problems. Given this situation, this study seeks to understand water insecurity in the household perspective. To this end, the realities related to access, quality and subjectivities of household water experiences were analyzed through questionnaires and interviews with key subjects. These data were analyzed using the Factor Analysis and clustering techniques, where it was possible to construct the Household Water Insecurity Index and identify four classes. The results indicate that the use of water storage systems was an important factor in camouflaging the lack of water, making the failures of the supply not perceived and naturalizing the access conditions, perceiving the supply as continuous and predictable. It is also understood that the perceived problems are related to water governance, since local availability of the resource is not the problem, but its management. The importance of quantifying and visualizing data that problematizes the efficient and fair water supply as well as the delimitation of public water policies that allow environmentally responsible, fair and socially equitable interventions is highlighted.