Sanitary situation and the use of the water of santa cruz creek, municipality of breves, archipelago of Marajó, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify and evaluate the sanitary situation and the use and quality of the waters of Santa Cruz creek, in the municipality of Breves, Pará. To obtain the data, a questionnaire was applied to the residents of the creeks waterfronts, which addressed the use of water and sanitary conditions. Water collection was also carried out for bacteriological physical-chemical parameters analysis, in four points of the creek, where two measurements were made for each parameter to be analyzed, one at low tide and one at high, in August 2017. The Pearson correlation test was applied between the physical-chemical and bacteriological variables, using the Bioestat 5.3 software. Among the 257 families interviewed, 175 (68.09%) used water from the stream for domestic use, 106 (41.24%) stated that the main leisure activity for children is recreation in the waters of the igarapé and 35 (13.62%) families dump their fecal waste directly into the stream. The mean dissolved oxygen value was 2 mg/L at low tide and 4.1 mg/L at high tide. The mean values ​for pH are between 6.1 at low tide and 7.0 at high tide. The mean coliform concentration detected at low tide was 101,809 NMP/100 mL for total coliforms, 47,654 NMP/100 mL for thermotolerant coliforms and 24,970 NMP/100 mL for E. coli. High tide the averages were 49,639 NMP/100 mL for total coliforms, 19,994 NMP/100 mL for thermotolerant coliforms and 4,462 NMP/100 mL for E. coli. It was concluded that the population residing near Santa Cruz creek lives in a situation of vulnerability and health risk.