Diagnóstico do saneamento básico rural: um estudo de caso na comunidade casa forte, Pombal – PB.

Abstract

Throughout Brazilian history, it is notorious that the issues related to basic sanitation have received more emphasis and support in urbanized areas. This is because the heterogeneity of the rural environment makes it necessary to apply particular techniques of intervention in basic sanitation. Thus, there is a high deficit in the coverage of access to adequate sanitation infrastructure among the population residing in rural areas of the country. In this context, the present work aimed to diagnose the situation in which the residents of the rural community Casa Forte, located in the municipality of Pombal - PB, live under three aspects of basic sanitation: water supply, sewage and solid waste management, as well as to characterize the attendance and deficit of access to these services. To this end, a survey of primary data was conducted through site visits, observation and note-taking, as well as photographic records and obtaining secondary data, for which official municipal and federal agencies were consulted. The sanitation services were characterized by interpreting the results obtained, based on the classification adopted by the Plano Nacional de Saneamento Básico - PLANSAB (National Basic Sanitation Plan), which classifies the sanitation services as adequate or with deficit (precarious service or no service). From the results, it was found that the Casa Forte community, as well as most of the rural communities in Brazil, does not have adequate sanitation services. Moreover, it was found that the poor conditions of final disposal of effluents and rural solid waste, through the use of rudimentary cesspools and the burning of waste, respectively, leads to a series of environmental and health problems, making the local residents vulnerable. Finally, it was concluded that there is an urgent need to implement improvements in the system of water supply, sewage and solid waste management not only in the aforementioned community, but throughout the rural area of the municipality of Pombal - PB