Social and environmental indicators of the Jaboatão river water basin associated with diseases related to inadequate environmental sanitation (DRIES)

Located in the Southern Mata region of the state of Pernambuco, the Jaboatão River Hydrographic Basin (JRB) has an area of 442 km². Part of the group of small coastal rivers (GL2), the JRB drains the municipalities of Recife, Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Moreno, São Lourenço da Mata, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, and Vitória de Santo Antão. In addition to contributing to the public supply of the Metropolitan Region of Recife, the JRB receives domestic, industrial and agro-industrial effluents along its route. The JRB runs through densely occupied municipalities with irregular land use and deficiencies in infrastructure, reflecting social, economic and environmental problems. The objective of this study is to make a diagnosis of the socio-environmental indicators in the JRB and correlate them with the main waterborne diseases related to the lack of basic sanitation. The study involved a literature review and a survey of secondary data. Regarding the water quality of the JRB, it was found to vary between Polluted and Very Polluted during the monitored period. With regard to environmental impacts, deforestation, waste dumping and irregular occupation of riverbanks were observed, causing problems for the fauna, flora and the population. In relation to the basic sanitation indicator in the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, among the obstacles raised was the fact that the municipality does not have a Municipal Policy on Basic Sanitation and the Jaboatão dos Guararapes Municipal Administration does not have a Municipal Basic Sanitation Plan; There is a scarcity of systematized information that supports the process of measuring environmental health; between urban and rural areas there are disparities in access to sanitation services, requiring the adoption of public policies to expand sanitation services in order to assist these populations and thus promote the universalization of sanitation access. The deficiency in basic sanitation in the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes hinders local sustainable development, causing social, economic and environmental impacts. Regarding the number of hospital admissions caused by diseases related to inadequate environmental sanitation (DRIES) in the municipalities that are part of the JRB, Recife stood out with 13,191 hospitalizations in the study period, and in 2010 had the highest number of hospitalizations (2,204). With regard to the number of deaths caused by DRIES, Recife also stood out with 4,208 deaths during the study period.