Modernidade à conta gotas: por uma história do abastecimento de água em Campina Grande-PB (1950-1958).

Abstract

In the early 1950s, the city of Campina Grande - PB was the scene of a modernizing experience, fruit of the unfolding of an elaborate political project. and civilizing, which among other things, aimed at ensuring the expansion of the water supply to the city, since the population was facing severe difficulty to obtain this liquid, often resorting to brackish water, unfit for consumption, resulting from poor storage spaces or even from public or private reservoirs. Seeking to combat a atmosphere of fear and insecurity and drive away the ghost of thirst and epidemics surrounding the city, governors-elect in the 1950s, for example by José Américo de Almeida, Flávio Ribeiro Coutinho and Pedro Moreno Gondim between 1951 and 1957, in partnership with of the Federal Government, an extremely ambitious project: the construction of the Boqueirão de Cabaceiras ", followed by an adductor system in 1958, which aimed, among other things, to eliminate the shortage of supplies from another Member State. the "Açude de Vaca Brava", which was on the verge of collapse. This one project was carried out by D.N.O.C.S., in partnership with the renowned sanitary engineer of Saturnino de Brito Filho. Therefore, this work seeks to analyze the representations elaborated around the crisis of the water supply in Campina Grande, as well as the governmental statements and strategies for the resolution, carried out as of the construction of the "Açude de Boqueirão de Cabaceiras "or" Açude Epitácio Pessoa ". In this sense, we will try to set of political, material and symbolic the purchase of this modern equipment, 1950-58, based on the analysis of journalistic representations, technical documents and photographic records, as a means of perceiving the desired water uses and consumptions to town.