AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE DA ÁGUA DE CONSUMO HUMANO NO MUNICÍPIO DE SANTO AMARO DO MARANHÃO MA COMO INSTRUMENTO DE GARANTIA DO DIREITO À SAÚDE

Abstract

This study has been developed aiming to evaluate the quality of drinking water in Santo Amaro do Maranhão/MA as an instrument for guaranteeing the right to health. This is a cross-sectional study with qualitative and quantitative approaches, developed in Santo Amaro do Maranhão/ MA, from February 2010 to March 2011. Discusses environmental problems and sanitation correlated to water resources and diseases linked to water. It analyses literature on the historical evolution of environmental legislation for protection of water quality in Brazil and about the legislative competence and water resources material. It was used a questionnaire with open and closed questions, field observations with photographic registers and personal impressions of the interviewer, samples of drinking water, laboratory analysis bacteriological and physical-chemical, and information obtained from public agencies of the city. It was found that the water supply to population is done through individual and group alternative solutions: semi-artesian wells and shallow wells with manual pumps (71%); and 58% of the families use water without any type of treatment, the city has no sewage system (56%) use septic tank system or rustic latrines, 40% of the population under this study incinerate and/or bury trash. Water samples analyzed presented contamination rate of 74% for total coliforms and 21% for Escherichia coli. Sanitation services in the city are very precarious. The lack of knowledge of the population to care for the wells, tank cleaning and treating water for consumption in the domiciliar areas makes it easier to contamination of groundwater and streams, so increasing the risk of getting waterborne diseases. The population of the city has no a secure supply of drinking water.