Drinking water microbiological quality in a periurban area, municipality of Suzano (SP)

• Grant number: 06/05011-7
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: February 01, 2007 - January 31, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal researcher: Maria Regina Alves Cardoso
• Grantee: Maria Regina Alves Cardoso
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Millenium Development Goals Programme (UNPD 2005) proposes to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. Some areas of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (RMSP) are not supplied with sustainable and safe drinking water.This scenario brings serious social and public health concerns. In areas with poor drinking water distribution and storage, there is an increasing incidence of diseases related to poor quality of water.The municipality of Suzano (SP), located in the Tietê-Cabeceiras catchments, is divided in two districts: Palmeiras de São Paulo and Boa Vista Paulista. In the first one, the distribution and storage of drinking water is carried out by the Sanitation Company of the São Paulo State - SABESP, reaching 20.1% of the population. For the communities not attended by the SABESP, drinking water is supplied by tank-trucks and kept in improvised reservoirs; and, in some cases, by wells as happens in the two periurbans communities chosen to take part in this study: V Divisão (census tract 35525021500025) and Vila Ipelância (census tract 502150000022). Domestic wastewater disposal in these areas, V Divisão and Vila Ipelândia, occurs in pit (80.8% and 78.8% respectively), septic tank (28.9% and 3.2%) and by direct launch into water bodies (7.9% and 2.1%). The objectives of this study is to investigate the bacteriological quality of drinking water kept in reservoirs and collected from wells in the V Divisão and Vila Ipelândia communities. It will be verified whether the local drinking water meets the quality standards established by the Brazilian law. It will also be investigated the potential association between environmental conditions and population health. Concentrations of heterotrophic bacteria and complementary indicators of fecal contamination, such as Enterococcus e Clostridium perfringens, will be determined in water samples. Data on health and household sanitary conditions will be obtained by interviews using a questionnaire. The expected results will be proposals for actions in health promotion for the study communities based on the data on water quality, household conditions and health obtained in the survey. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PEPE RAZZOLINI, MARIA TEREZA; WEIR, MARK H.; MATTE, MARIA HELENA; MATTE, GLAVUR ROGERIO; FERNANDES, LICIA NATAL; ROSE, JOAN B. Risk of Giardia infection for drinking water and bathing in a peri-urban area in Sao Paulo, Brazil. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH, v. 21, n. 3, p. 222-234, 2011. Web of Science Citations: 12.