Considerations about water supply and public health: a case study in the Brazilian Amazonia

Abstract

Even though Amazonia displays magnificent environmental heritage and abundance of water resources, it is exactly in the Brazilian northern region, contained in this remarkable biome, that the worst indices of access to sanitation services and respective public health indicators are found. A case study carried out in the town of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, located to the northwest in the State of Amazonas, with nearly 18,000 inhabitants, a large portion of whom are Indians, revealed a complexity of factors related to water supply and public health improvement for urban centers in Amazonia. Lack of proper policies, environmental peculiarities, logistic and financial difficulties, are added to socio-cultural matters, migratory processes, and unorganized urbanization associated with environmental impacts. In order to improve the public health delivery under such circumstances, an interdisciplinary approach that will allow for water resources management, basic sanitation implementation, and the promotion of the inhabitants' support become necessary.