Soluções alternativas de saneamento básico para comunidades rurais

Abstract

Sanitation is an instrument that promotes population health and environmental health. Therefore, low rates of attendance with these services translate into high rates of morbidity and mortality. In rural communities, solutions for solid waste management, waste collection and treatment and water supply are completely different from those used in urban areas; and rainwater management does not exist. These are called alternative solutions and are more suitable for rural communities because they consider the local characteristics and peculiarities of the population. Therefore, when choosing the technology to be implemented, the values, customs and habits of the population must be taken into account so that the applied system guarantees the effectiveness and efficiency of operation, guaranteeing the improvement of the quality of life and the environment. In this context, there are several techniques and technologies that can be used and, therefore, there is no single solution to a problem. In this work, a survey was made of the most used solutions for treating water supply and sewage generated in rural communities and, for a hypothetical rural community located in a semi-arid region, residential hydrosanitary installation systems were designed; treatment of sewage for the use of rainwater and the procedures that must be adopted for composting organic waste for fertilization of subsistence crops are indicated. As a result, we have the basic projects of the aforementioned components. It is concluded that in rural communities, mainly in the semi-arid region, there is a lack of public policies, investments and infrastructure in all aspects of basic sanitation: water of adequate quality and in sufficient quantity; adequate collection, treatment and final disposal of domestic effluent and solid waste and; unsatisfactory use of rainwater. As a result, the vulnerability of the rural population to diseases and the environment to contamination becomes evident.