Microbiological quality of drinking rainwater in the inland region of Pajeú, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

SUMMARYDespite all efforts to store and reduce its consumption, water is becoming less inexhaustible and its quality is falling faster. Considering that water is essential to animal life, it is necessary to adopt measures to ensure its sanitary conditions in order to be fit for consumption. The aim of this study was to analyze the microbiological quality of drinking rainwater used by rural communities of Tuparetama, a small town located in Northeast Brazil. The study covered seven rural communities, totaling 66 households. In each household two samples were collected, one from a tank and the other from a clay pot located inside the home, resulting in 132 samples (tank plus clay pot). Approximately 90% of samples were below the standard recommended by the current legislation, being considered unfit for human consumption. Part of this high microbiological contamination of drinking rainwater could be related to the lack of sanitary education and of an adequate sewerage sanitation system.

A review on physicochemical and microbiological contamination of roof-harvested rainwater in urban areas

“…This is also the case of the Semi Arid region of Brazil, where the use of rainwater cisterns for drinking purposes has been associated with a decreased occurrence of diarrhea (Marcynuk et al, 2013) and Giardia duodenalis (Fonseca et al, 2014) among rural sparse communities. However, even though in general terms it has been reported that the gastrointestinal diseases in these communities tend to decrease with the use of rainwater, in those cases where rainwater storage lacked from hygiene both coliforms and parasites were detected (Xavier et al, 2011). Similar concerns were exposed by Plazinska (2001) when addressing the quality of the rainwater harvested by Aborigines communities in Australia.…”

“…Franklin et al (2009) reported that an outbreak of Salmonella at a school camp was linked to contamination of rainwater tanks as the management had not regularly chlorinated the tanks or removed the sludge from their bottom. Bacterial and parasite contamination is a common occurrence in rainwater used by rural communities in the semi arid region of Brazil: Xavier et al (2011) demonstrated that approximately 90% of the stored rainwater samples in this region were contaminated by coliforms and 34.8% showed the presence of at a least one parasite specie. This study concluded that such large numbers of contaminants could be justified by a lack of education among the population regarding the importance to conserve their water in clean pots and avoid contaminating them with animal or human feces and therefore health educational programs should be developed as an important part of rainwater harvesting programs in the region.…”

Manejo, aspectos sanitários e qualidade da água de cisternas em comunidades do semiárido sergipano

“…Como o telhado, as calhas e as tubulações funcionam não só como estruturas físicas de captação e armazenamento da água da chuva, mas também como barreiras sanitárias, o manuseio de forma adequada pode minimizar a contaminação microbiana da água da chuva armazenada na cisterna (Xavier et al 2011). …”

Microbiological evaluation of drinking water available in schools in Cruz das Almas, Brazil

“…Personal well-bring requires access to drinkable water free from pathogen agents and/or toxic chemical products which transmit diseases to consumers (Brasil 2011;Xavier et al 2011;WHO, 2011).…”

“…Several factors such as domestic drainage, industrial and agricultural effluents, deforestation, mining, solid wastes, effluents from swine breeding, diffuse pollution in urban areas, salinization, environmental accidents, dam building and aquiculture contribute towards water contamination (Brasil, 2006;Xavier et al, 2011;WHO, 2011). However, the best way for water preservation is avoiding contamination by animal and human wastes which contain a great number of bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths.…”