At least 36 communities in Amazonas have unsafe water – 09/24/2023 – Health

The North region, which is located on the largest river basin in the world, still has restricted access to drinking water. A Fiocruz project analyzed the water in around 36 riverside communities in Amazonas that did not have a treatment system and, in all of them, it was unfit for consumption.

The researchers found that, in wells, rivers and containers used to store water, there was the presence of fecal coliforms and minerals, such as iron. Based on these results, city halls can evaluate the implementation of new water treatment systems.

The North has the lowest rate of access to treated water in the country. The figure is just 60%, below the national figure of 84.2%, according to data from the National Sanitation Information System compiled by Instituto Trata Brasil.

Sanitation rates in the region are also low. In the state of Amazonas, 85% of the population does not have sewage collection. At a national level, the average is 44%.

Luana Pretto, president of Instituto Trata Brasil, says that, even in vulnerable communities, there must be treatment to meet the water quality standards required by the Ministry of Health.

“Often, it becomes normal to think that children have always had tummy aches. But it is not normal. There is the possibility of treatment even for a small community.”

According to experts, one of the factors that most affects the quality of water used by riverside residents is animal husbandry. The rivers are contaminated by organic matter from cattle and other animals that pass through the place.

Even when communities use wells, maintenance and appropriate care are often lacking. Some city halls make hypochlorite available, used for disinfection, but residents do not always know how to apply it.

“They didn’t have much of an outlet. Our work was to try to help them drink water, even without a treatment system”, declares Luciete Almeida, who coordinates the project at Fiocruz.

Funasa (National Health Foundation), dissolved at the beginning of the year, was one of those responsible for promoting access to treated water for vulnerable communities. The foundation installed Salta Z in the territories of these groups, a device that transforms raw water into drinkable water.

“It removes physical and chemical components with great precision, especially coliforms, which are the ones that most bother the riverside population”, says José Moura, basic sanitation technician at the foundation.

The foundation continues to monitor and maintain the Salta Z, according to Moura, but the installation of new devices is on pause. Today, there are NGOs that implement the system in some communities. After a decision by Congress in June, Funasa must be resumed under a new formulation.

A cooperation agreement signed by the two institutions meant that Fiocruz began analyzing the water treated by the device, to verify its operation.

The entity’s team obtained new resources for the project through a notice from Fapeam (Amazon Research Support Foundation). With this, the researchers expanded the analyzes, also checking rivers and wells.

The project went to 12 cities in Amazonas, including Parintins, Borba and Barreirinha. In nine municipalities, researchers visited communities with and without a treatment system.

The visit to communities without Salta Z was a request from city halls, according to Luciete Almeida. Municipal management selected places with a high incidence of diarrhea, dehydration and other diseases that could have water origins.

One of the cities served by the project was Silves, around 200 kilometers from Manaus. The municipality, bathed by the Amazon and Urubu rivers and Lake Camaçari, has almost half of the population living in rural areas, according to Juciê Neves, the city’s health surveillance coordinator.

Despite the wide availability of fresh water, only 2 of the approximately 40 riverside communities have a treatment system.

Neves says that diseases increase during droughts, as is happening now, and during floods. Droughts increase the concentration of contaminated sediments, as rivers become muddy. The coordinator states that, during these periods, riverside residents walk kilometers to reach the wells where water is available.

During floods, the river reaches community homes, swallowing ditches and spaces where residents throw waste, which increases contamination.

According to Neves, Fiocruz visited nine riverside populations in Silves without a treatment system. “Their work was fundamental, because it contributed to something that we were already aware of, but were unable to prove”, she declares.

The results will be used by the city hall to request the installation of Salta Z in more locations, according to the coordinator. He says the long-term goal is to implement the treatment in all communities.

Fiocruz offered a course for laboratory professionals to learn how to carry out microbiological analysis to assess whether water is drinkable. Community health agents have now learned to check water quality based on its appearance, odor and appearance.

River dwellers attended lectures on water treatment. Part of the population resisted drinking treated water because they were already accustomed to using water from the river, according to Luciete Almeida.