Sewage: A Problem of a Developing Country
Marcella Britto
Sewage: A Problem of a Developing Country
Did you know that 60% of the world does not have access to proper sanitation1? For someone that lives in a developed country that might seem impossible to imagine, but it is the reality of 4.5 billion people1. In fact, in developing countries like Brazil that means 17% of the population does not have any sewage treatment2, but instead sewage waste is disposed of in rivers and streams in the open, which is a major health risk for those in these polluted areas.
However, due to the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic, I returned to my home country of Brazil and viewed this issue first-hand in the poorer parts of my county. To further investigate this on-going problem, I sought to talk about this problem with someone willing to take pictures and define their importance, so that I can better capture the essence of the environment and its man-made complication.
My participant’s name is Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme,Ph.D., 56. He is my uncle. I requested him to partake in this research because he has Ph.D.s in soil studies, like crop and soil sciences and environmental toxicology. With his qualifications and abundant knowledge of the effects of sewage in developing countries, I knew that he was the best person to teach me about not only the sentimental part of the issue, but also the scientific. His assignment was to take three pictures of scenes that portrayed the problem of sewage in our county.
With full disclosure of all content provided to me by Dr. Guilherme, I will show the reality of the problems of a developing country.
Dr. Luiz Roberto Guilherme’s Statement
“This is how the situation was in Itutinga. Sewage was either put in septic tanks or thrown directly into rivers without any type of treatment, contaminating groundwater and surface water bodies. The city of Lavras, has sewage treatment, but Itutinga, which is a very small town, did not until a short time ago. In Minas Gerais, more than 50% of the 843 counties don’t have sewage treatment. Itutinga, for example, had nothing, so 100% of the waste was thrown in rivers or septic tanks. We joke that in Brazil out of four feces, only two are collected in a sewage system. And out of the two collected only one is treated, so the other is collected and returned to the river. Collection in Brazil occurs less than 50% and treatment only 25%. Brazil is today, in terms of basic sanitation, compared to Europe in the 14th century. That means that what we see in Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and in Rio de Janeiro ceased to exist in the 14th century, during medieval times! In Brazil, many talk about environmental problems, when what kills the most is sewage! Thus, in the past decades, public figures all over Minas Gerais are trying to revert this situation, like was done in Itutinga.”
Analysis
Dr. Luiz Roberto Guilherme’s Statement
Cities have a collection of sewage and a collection of rainwater (a.k.a. rainwater col