ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION I

ANNY CORAL
12/11/2015
ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION IN LATIN AMERICA: BASIC
THEORETICAL IDEAS AND A GENERAL CASE STUDY.
Throughout time mankind has evolved technologically and has made great
inventions which have made the lives of human beings on the planet easier,
making them increasingly consumerist and uninterested in what happens
around them, all this progress has consequences to the planet this matter
because the primary source of prime materials for most processes and
products come from nature.
For this reason now these consequences have caused concern and
uncertainty as the environmental degradation and precarious lifestyle is
evident in some populations of the planet, causing diseases, and abrupt
changes in the weather which has cause death and devastation due to these
environmental problems and unsanitary environments where some people
live on the planet this events have created the necessity for the study
environmental sanitation.
Currently the management and remediation of the environment has been
built through the interaction of a complex set of economic, cultural, social,
political and environmental factors that exalt in time when humans
populated the territory (Rodrguez, 2002), but it dates back centuries ago.
The origin of the sanitation started in the period of the conquest, in this
period the introduction of the exploitation of forests, soil and water, which
bear little or no regard for their proper use or conservation, operating
systems of agricultural activity and the conviction of having unlimited soils
were factors in establishing cultural methods with soil conservation, also the
discovery of new technologies in the industrial revolution changed the
course of humanity (Rodrguez, 2002).
"The environment sanitation is defined as the set of interventions dedicated
to improving the management of waste in addition to the supply of drinking
water" (SELVA,Pp. 2, 1998) . But in the broadest sense, environmental
sanitation is an unwavering and continuous approximations process in which
several private, private and civil society actors operate a set of specific
efforts in order to preserve, conserve, restore and use the environment in a
sustainable way (Rodrguez, 2002).

The importance of cleaning the environment is that the envisaged activities

related to improve the basic conditions that affect health, such as sewage

disposal, water supply, solid waste, housing and control of the harmed fauna
(Meloni, 2007), also involves the quality of life, and that man needs a
constant supply of drinking water to live, if you do not have a source of
drinking water infectious diseases increase, the filth is promoted and limits
all social functions (SELVA, 1998).
"The transformation of the environment by human activities had dramatic
consequences on health and food security. Globally it is estimated that a
third of cases of illness are linked to environmental factors "(Dellsperger,Pp.
1, 2003)
Human beings live in a digital age, in which they have the latest information
and communications technology, this has given mankind a great leap
toward the future and the progress of civilization, however, more than 2,500
million people in other words 41% of the world population has no access to
quality healthcare of life that only sanitation can offer (LATINOSAN, 2007).
Statistics show that in Latin America are more than 120 million Latin
Americans lack access to improved sanitation, less than 15% of waste water
is treated on the continent, and evidence has shown that where there is no
available installation, systems of health, solid waste disposal, waste water
remain in place where people inhabit, and the poorest and most vulnerable
groups suffer the most (LATINOSAN, 2007).
The figures above are on the rise because the main problem in Latin
America is on settlements of areas without any urban infrastructure and
basic services, this is due to the lack of urban planning and development at
the regional level where these settlements are located, without the proper
infrastructure the environment will gradually deteriorate (SELVA, 1998).
This particular scenario describe landfills, outdoor defecation, pollution of
waterways, bad personal habits, domestic habits, community hygiene; food
handling and waste (Dellsperger, 2003).
These homes will be affected with an unhealthy outcome such as diseases
of both pathological and social origin, they are health centers in marginal
urban areas, hence this lifestyle in an environment deteriorated particularly
affects children's physical and intellectual (LATINOSAN, 2007) this is very
common in most Latin American countries because they are developing
countries and in which state policies do not contribute to the creation of
standards to collaborate with the improvement in lifestyle poorest
populations in these countries (Dellsperger, 2003).
One of the most critical health complications in Latin America is the
inefficient sweep of untreated wastewater, the same contaminating surface
and ground water resources, on the other hand improper disposal of sewage
and contaminated drinking water, causing many diseases, becoming
considered among the top three causes of death in the region, the most
common, amebiasis, cholera, hepatitis, typhoid, paratyphoid fever and
rotavirus infections (SELVA, 1998).

For all these consequences "The United Nations" has created a series of
objective to assist the environmental sanitation in Latin America, the main
ones are:
Beginning with increasing awareness and commitment of actors
at all levels within and outside of the sector, about the importance of
achieving the Millennium Development Goals sanitation , followed by
Mobilize governments at national and local level , existing
partnerships , financial institutions , service providers , the private
sector and international cooperation agencies enabling secure real
commitments to review, develop and implement effective actions to
implement sanitation programs and strengthen sanitation policies . In
which they allocate clear responsibilities , finally promoting
sustainable and traditional solutions based on demand and make
informed decisions recognizing the importance of working from the
bottom up with practitioners and communities ( LATINOSAN, Pp. 7 ,
2007).
With these objectives in place the only remaining issue is to fulfill and
improve the quality of life of those who for lack of money live in probably
uninhabitable homes, because of environmental management begins with
the need of society to preserve and optimize the supply and environmental
quality, in other words the resources that satisfy the needs of human
beings, are essential to support life on Earth (Rodriguez, 2002).
Environment sanitation is important because of some countries have
developed policies and strategies to improve this area, for example in recent
years sanitation investments clearly entered on the agenda of main
priorities and public policies in Brazil, in the period 2003-2006 They totaled
US $ 6800 million, which US $ 3.2 billion are grants (LATINOSAN, 2007).
The 67.2% of the Brazilian population has access to the waste management
collection; 77.3% are located in urban areas, while 18.5% are in rural areas.
And it projects that in 2015, 69.7% of the population should have access to
these services, so Brazil would be close to achieving that goal (Seara, 2011).
This may be because in Brazil new sectoral policies and strategies in which
hygiene and health education is promoted were implemented; waste
disposal; the collection, treatment and sanitation of disposal sewage sludge
and solid waste; and water waste treatment (LATINOSAN, 2007), which has
contributed greatly to increasing statistics and helped the improvement of
environmental quality in many areas of the country.
In the case of Brazil, it is estimated that access to drinking water quality,
sanitation and hygiene will prevent about 15 000 deaths a year (Bellido,
2010) due to this alarming figure in the state of Cear there has been
implemented a model of participatory management at the basin level to
provide rural communities with water and sanitation (Correa, 2011).

The greatest health risk from improper sanitation were recorded in the micro
regions and the state of Cear due to its high density of populations with
low economic status, they had low educational level as well ( Bellido , 2010).
The model used is called Integrated System of Water Supply and Rural
Sanitation ( pilfer ) , which consists of a federation of community
associations founded specifically with the intention of self managing local
systems , with technical support from the water company and
the
Sanitation department of the State of Cear ( CAGECE ) (Correa, 2011).
The solutions presented are in some cases in regards to the
water supply company CAGECE adopts the system " at the door " ,
using water from wells and damming , water treatment with chlorine
tablets and slow filtration , analysis of the water quality in the field
and using external control laboratories in more complex situations ,
and maintenance of automatic water meters at 100% of household
connections ( Bellido , Pp. 6, 2010 ).
But if it comes to sanitation, technical remedies are next on individual
systems, sewers and water waste treatment in stabilization ponds, the use
pumping stations avoided, because each household has health services, in
other words toilet flush tank (Bellido, 2010).
Use of the implementation of the SISAR Model in Cear stands out for its
amplitude, the permanent expansion of the services of collection and
distribution of water in rural areas, and prospects for sustainability, currently
there are eight units in the state of Ceara, one for each river basin (Correa,
2011)
These units are located in cities where the company CAGECE maintains its
business offices this way the company does offer technical and
administrative support and monitoring sanitation activities (Correa, 2011)
"this bring this model increased 5% the level of sanitation in this state
(Bellido,Pp. 1, 2010).
Therefore it is concluded that sanitation is important for the development of
a community and the preservation of the environment, it will improve the
quality of life for many people living in poverty, there should be a priority for
governments of different countries, to focus not only in the production of
products but also in the quality of life of the people, in the remediation of
contaminated soils, since resources are not infinite and the planet is
deteriorating. Usually the sanitation problem occurs in populations with
lower economic resources and in places where you have education or deficit
generating a large number of deaths from diseases caused by unsafe.

Bibliografa
Bellido, G. (2010). Saneamiento ambiental y mortalidad en nios menores
de 5 aos por enfermedades de transmisin hdrica en Brasil. Ceara:
Rev Panam Salud Publica.
Correa, S. (2011). Brasil: un modelo de gestin innovador para el suministro
integrado de agua y saneamiento rural en el Estado de Cear.
Brasilia: CAGECE.
Dellsperger, V. (2003). Salud Ambiental. Mexico: PNUMA.
LATINOSAN. (2007). Saneamineto para el desarrollo. Lima: LEDEL S.A.C.
Meloni, D. (2007). Environmental sanitation. Buenos Aires: CPE.
Rodrguez, M. (2002). Gestin ambiental en America Latina y El Caribe.
Washington, D.C.: Wilk.
Seara, C. (2011). Autoanlisis latinoamericano sobre conflictos y gestin de
servicios urbanos de agua y saneamiento. Sao Pablo.
SELVA. (1998). ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION. Lima: M&A.