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Low quality drinking water has been directly correlated to the occurrence of waterborne illnesses in northern Brazil. To minimize health risks related to the water supply, the Ministry of Health has proposed the implementation of the National Program for the Surveillance of Drinking Water Quality (VIGIAGUA) in Brazilian municipalities. Focusing on the Legal Amazon region, the present study demonstrates a historical account of the percentage of municipalities included in the VIGIAGUA program in place, which in 2013 reached 45.1% of the region municipalities. This study also identifies vulnerable areas in terms of the water quality in the states of Amapá, Amazonas and Maranhão. With this analysis of the current status of the drinking water supply, this study intends to support and direct the strategic efforts of environmental health monitoring in the region.

This work investigated the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in raw sewage (from Belo Horizonte city, Minas Gerais state, Brazil) and assessed their behavior in demo-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB reactors) operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRT). The dissolved concentration of the studied micropollutants in the raw and treated sewage was obtained using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by analysis in a liquid chromatography system coupled to a hybrid high resolution mass spectrometer consisting of an ion-trap and time of flight (LC-MS-IT-TOF). The natural (estradiol) and synthetic (ethinylestradiol) estrogens were hardly detected; when present, however, their concentrations were lower than the method quantification limits. The concentrations of bisphenol A and miconazole in raw sewage were similar to that reported in the literature (around 200 ng L⁻¹ and hardly detected, respectively). The antibiotics sulfamethoxazole (median 13.0 ng L⁻¹) and trimethoprim (median 61.5 ng L⁻¹), and the other pharmaceutical compounds (diclofenac and bezafibrate, with median 99.9 and 94.4 ng L⁻¹, respectively) were found in lower concentrations when compared with reports in the literature, which might indicate a lower consumption of such drugs in Brazil. The UASB reactors were inefficient in the removal of bisphenol A, and led to an increased concentration of nonylphenol in the effluent. The anaerobic reactors were also inefficient in the removal of diclofenac, and led to a partial removal of bezafibrate; whereas, for sulfamethoxazole there seemed to be a direct relationship between the HRT and removal efficiencies. For trimethoprim the sludge retention time (SRT) seemed to play an important role, although it was only partially removed in the UASB reactors.

Resumo A água é essencial para o desenvolvimento socioeconômico de um território e, também, para sobrevivência do ser humano. A escassez hídrica causa impactos diretos e indiretos sobre o ambiente, a economia e a saúde humana, podendo alterar o perfil de morbidade e mortalidade das doenças, além de impactar a oferta de serviços públicos essenciais à qualidade de vida. Este estudo visa contextualizar a ocorrência de estiagem e seca no Brasil, os efeitos à saúde humana, bem como ações a serem desenvolvidas pelo setor saúde para reduzir o risco de exposição da população das áreas atingidas, com ênfase nas ações de vigilância da qualidade da água para consumo humano. Trata-se de estudo descritivo, qualitativo, com base documental. Foram pesquisados documentos elaborados com base em iniciativas da Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde do Ministério da Saúde até 2014. Considera-se necessário fortalecer a capacidade de atuação do Sistema Único de Saúde para o desenvolvimento de respostas oportunas para a redução do risco à saúde da população.

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