The Health of the Population Residing in the Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin Area in Greater Buenos Aires
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ARTICLE / ARTÍCULO 53 SALUD COLECTIVA, Buenos Aires, 9(1):53-63, January - April,2013 The origin and quality of water for human consumption: the health of the population residing in the Matanza-Riachuelo river basin area in Greater Buenos Aires Origen y calidad del agua para consumo humano: salud de la población residente en el área de la cuenca Matanza-Riachuelo del Gran Buenos Aires Monteverde, Malena1; Cipponeri, Marcos2; Angelaccio, Carlos3; Gianuzzi, Leda4 1Undergraduate Degree ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to analyze the origin and quality of water used for in Economics. PhD in Economics with consumption in a sample of households in Matanza-Riachuelo river basin area in Greater specialization in Statistics Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results of drinking water by source indicated that 9% of and Econometrics. water samples from the public water system, 45% of bottled water samples and 80% Researcher, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios of well water samples were not safe for drinking due to excess content of coliforms, sobre Cultura y Sociedad Escherichia coli or nitrates. Individuals living in households where well water is the main - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas source of drinking water have a 55% higher chance of suffering a water-borne disease; in y Tecnológicas (CIECS- the cases of diarrheas, the probability is 87% higher and in the case of dermatitis, 160% CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, higher. The water for human consumption in this region should be provided by centrali- Argentina. zed sources that assure control over the quality of the water. [email protected] KEY WORDS Environment; Water Quality; Waterborne Diseases; Argentina. 2Hydraulic Engineer. Director, Unidad de Investigación Desarrollo y RESUMEN El objetivo del estudio es analizar el origen y la calidad del agua domiciliaria Docencia-Gestión Ambiental utilizada para el consumo, en una muestra de hogares del área de la cuenca Matanza- (UIDD-GA). Associate Professor, Universidad Riachuelo del Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina. Según su origen, el 9% de las muestras de Nacional de La Plata, agua provenientes de la red pública, el 45% de las de agua envasada y el 80% de las Argentina. [email protected] provenientes de perforaciones o pozos individuales resultaron no potables por exceso de coliformes, Escherichia coli o nitratos. Los individuos de la muestra de hogares en 3Hydraulic Engineer. United los que la fuente principal de agua para el consumo eran pozos individuales presentaron Nations Consultant. Adviser, Unidad de Investigación una probabilidad 55% superior de padecer alguna enfermedad de origen hídrico, Desarrollo y Docencia- probabilidad que llegaría al 87% en el caso de las diarreas y al 160% en el de las Gestión Ambiental (UIDD- GA), Universidad Nacional dermatitis. El agua para consumo humano en este territorio debería provenir de fuentes de La Plata, Argentina. centralizadas que aseguren el control de la calidad del agua. [email protected] PALABRAS CLAVES Ambiente; Calidad del Agua; Enfermedades Transmitidas por el 4PhD in Chemistry. Professor Agua; Argentina. of Toxicology, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Lead researcher, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CIDCA- CONICET), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. [email protected] Salud Colectiva | Universidad Nacional de Lanús | ISSN 1669-2381 | EISSN 1851-8265 54 MONTEVERDE M, CIPPONERI M, ANGELACCIO C, GIANUZZI L. INTRODUCTION was 10 in 100, and in the period between 1991 and 2001 it was 26 in 100 (4). Lvovsky (5) estimates that about 5.5% of the The ways in which the marginal areas of cities disability-adjusted life years lost in Latin America develop, without taking into account the constraints and the Caribbean originate from sanitation of the natural environment or infrastructure needs, services deficiencies, compared with the 1% in generate a series of social and environmental industrialized countries. problems. These problems are derived from the The World Health Organization states that lack of drinking water, flooding, and inadequate the lack of safe water, health services and hygiene hygiene conditions due to lack of sanitation is, globally, the most important environmental risk facilities, overcrowding, and lack of urban planning factor in terms of disability-adjusted life years and that prevents everything from public street cleaning the second most important risk factor in terms of to the entrance of ambulances, all of which exposes deaths (6). SALUD COLECTIVA, Buenos Aires, 9(1):53-63, January - April, 2013 the population to a contaminated environment (1). An assessment of the impacts that the Greater Buenos Aires (a), one of the most densely provision of sanitation services would have populated areas of Argentina, holds 30% of the indicates that, if access to services were universal, total population of the country – more than 12 the global number of diarrhea episodes would million people, according to the 2010 National be reduced, on average, by 16.7%. If water Population and Housing Census in Argentina (2) – purification in places of consumption were added, and is one of the 12 largest urban agglomerations the reduction of episodes would reach 53% on in the world (3). It is an example of unplanned average. Finally, providing access to a regulated population growth, with significant deficits in basic running water supply, household connection to sanitation services and the existence of numerous the sewage system and partial treatment of sewage environmental risk factors to which its inhabitants would achieve an average reduction of 69% (7). are exposed. According to the data from the population According to the estimates by Cravino et census of 2010 (2), the service coverage of the al. (4), population growth in the settlements and public water and sewage systems in the 24 counties shantytowns of the 24 counties of the province of of Greater Buenos Aires is quite heterogeneous, Buenos Aires (which are part of Greater Buenos with households with access to the public water Aires) has been considerable and shows an network ranging from 10% (in Malvinas Argentinas) increasing trend in recent years. The population to 100% (in Vicente López) (b), and access to the growth in this type of informal settlements during sewage system ranging from 2% (in Malvinas the period 1981-2001 was 63% in the county of Argentinas) to 97% (in Vicente López). According Merlo and 86% in the county of Moreno, while in to the same source, the average coverage of the Almirante Brown, Esteban Echeverría and Lomas public water system in all of the Province of de Zamora growth reached 1,800%, 666% and Buenos Aires is 75%, whereas the sewage system 228% respectively (mentioning only the most does not even serve half of all households (48%). dramatic changes). The same study shows that These figures contrast sharply with the coverage the population living in informal settlements has levels in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, grown much faster than the total population. where 100% and 98% of households have access Between 1981 and 2006, the population in to each of the services, respectively. slums and settlements grew, in relative terms, by The results of a recent study on the counties 220% compared to a 35% population growth in of Greater Buenos Aires suggest that the lack of Greater Buenos Aires. It is estimated that, in the basic sanitation services has a strong impact on the five years between the 2001 census and 2006, probability of suffering from diarrhea, as well as for every 100 new residents in the 24 counties showing the existence of a significant synergistic of Greater Buenos Aires, 60 moved into informal effect among the lack of sanitation services, the settlements and 40 into the “formal” city; in educational level of the head of the household and the period 1981-1991, the proportion of the the proximity to dumps that substantially increases population that moved into informal settlements the risk of suffering from the disease (8). Salud Colectiva | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License | BY - NC THE ORIGIN AND QUALITY OF WATER FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION 55 SALUD COLECTIVA, Buenos Aires, 9(1):53-63, January - April, 2013 The aim of this study is to deepen the analysis reference for questions about these diseases was of the relationship between the deficit of sanitation the last twelve months. services (or the deficiency in their quality) and the The final sample for the 2011 survey was contracting of waterborne diseases among the composed of those households belonging to the population residing in the area of the Matanza- master sample in which waterborne diseases Riachuelo river basin (c) (belonging to Greater were reported in the last year and with whom Buenos Aires). For this purpose, the origin and it was possible to arrange an appointment (130 quality of water used for consumption was households). Of these households, 90 received examined in a sample of households from the the field staff (the person in charge of taking study area where a waterborne disease had been the water sample and the person in charge of detected, and the correlation of the results with administering the supplementary questionnaire). the presence of each of the diseases under study The most frequent reason for the rejection of the was analyzed. field researchers expressed by the households was