Percepção de diferentes atores sociais sobre os impactos ambientais causados pelos desvios de esgotos sanitários em Campina Grande-PB: uma contribuição a ações sustentáveis em saneamento.

Abstract

The lack of investments on sanitary sewage systems and its maintenance have as a consequence the depreciation of the existing units, the disposal of the installed equipment, the operational vulnerability of the system and the sewage detours throughout its path: from the emitter to the Sewage Treatment Station (ETE). The goal of the current paper is to evaluate the perception of different social actors which are related to the impacts caused by the detours on sanitary sewage detours from the emitters to the purification plants in Campina Grande-PB.The research was conducted from March, 2009, to December 2010. Five categories took part on the research: CAGEPA (Paraíba‟s Water and Sewage Company) employees, faculty members (researchers) from two different public universities, communitarian health agents, faculty members from both, city and state schools, and social actors, part of the Catingueira community. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and through application of awareness strategies: presentation e debate about the project; seminars, the presentation and debates regarding the results obtained; exposition of sewage detours‟ photos. In order to do so the qualitative and quantitative analysis were used. It was seen that throughout the path which goes from emitters to receivers there are interventions done by the locals in the area nearby the ETE, which result in the use of in natura sewages, especially those used in irrigation, causing several different impacts both social and environmental, which result in risks to the environmental preservation and human health. CAGEPA‟s social actors admitted (100% of those who took part in this research) the existence of the detours, and are worried about the situation, mostly about the impacts that such detours can result on. Most (58%) of the experts on hydric resources, as well as purification and treatment, were also aware of the detours and rather concerned with the non-treated sewage use, due to the possibilities of pollution and contamination. The families (73%), the teachers (60%) and the communitarian health agents (55.6%) that took part in the research are also aware the existence of sewage detours, even though they do not deal with the issue. Amongst the strategies shown on Environmental Education, the following are worth special mention: showing the project to the local community; seminars and presentation of results regarding the results of the socio-environmental diagnosis to the social actors that were part of the research. The applied strategies motivated reflection about our study and propelled the search for new solutions, especially by CAGEPA, although it has not shown any significant changes so far, as the matter requires public policies that deal with the sanitarian sewage; the creation and supervision of Environmental Education programs, both formal and non-formal.