Análise da literatura relacionada ao abastecimento de água em contextos rurais específicos

Abstract

The presence of drinking water in households located in territories characterized by dispersion in the form of occupation represents a laborious task for its residents. The long-standing urban-rural dualistic structure and economic development focused on some sectors have imposed and still impose challenges on the management of drinking water in several countries due to low demand, geographic isolation and limited human and financial capacity. The present research aims to analyze the profiles of publications that cover water supply in places where houses are isolated from each other, qualifying the most recurrent themes and quantifying their occurrence in time and space, in order to expose the main challenges found in publications on water supply in the contexts of territorial occupation under study. For this, 10,101 publications from the main cientific databases were used, which refer to water supply interfaces in that context. In order to achieve the type of intended reality – the dispersion of dwellings in the territory, characterizing the isolated rural – the following search terms were used (a search string with AND and OR operators): “water” AND “decentralized systems” OR “household solutions” OR “individual solutions” OR “small-scale” OR “dispersed regions” OR “isolated regions” OR “dispersed dwellings”. Such terms received special attention regarding the ways of conceptualizing the reality in evidence, regarding the specificities of the terms when translated into English. The analysis focused on thematic networks linked to water supply interfaces, analyzed from the historical context and landmarks on the subject greater impact. A significant number of studies have been exploring this theme from different angles. In chronological order, a growing range of works recognizes drinking water as indispensable to public health, an ideal that has given rise to the recognition of water as a fundamental human right. However, many works continued to focus on technical approaches and operational procedures, with consequent limited attention to management and low technological appropriation by the population residing in isolation contexts. In the field of public health, decisions are based on scientific evidence from systematic approaches, revealing that drinking water consumption is inseparable from health. This approach reinforcing the importance of research that favors the compression of structural and structuring measures, so that the physical structure that represents the set of techniques for water supply, has management that guarantees sustainability and longevity to the solution. Management is configured as the axis that sustains the progress of universal service to rural populations, and its improvement is necessary so that the water supply becomes a reality for the population that does not fit the principle of economy of scale.