Water and Poverty in small rural communities of the province of Cordoba, Argentina

Sevilla

Congreso; Smallwat11. III Congress; 2011

CENTA-Gobierno de España

This paper examines the state of the relationship between water and poverty in some small rural communities in the province of Cordoba in Argentina. The results of fieldwork led to the selection of priority locations for further analysis and diagnosis of the problem of drinking water and sanitation, as well as the economic and social conditions of its inhabitants. This would identify specific locations for which should be the formulation and implementation of projects providing safe water and sanitation in the region. Work results showed that only three of the locations selected by drinking water from boreholes and have distribution network in other places, people sourcing the very fragile resource, its people, unaware of the physical-chemical and bacteriological state of the water consumed, in most cases there are no sanitary facilities or, the pit latrines are too close to sources of water supply for consumption. We confirm that the total sample households have no sanitary sewer and not done any type of wastewater treatment. Also, in most cases, water quality samples found bacteria, well above the maximum recommended by the Worlds Health Organization (WHO). Among the reasons for this reality is the lack of information possessed by these social groups with regard to the characteristics of water they should drink and its treatment, which derives from the poor conditions and low socio-economical education detected. This fact highlights the need to improve living conditions and strengthen the work of instruction and education of the population.