Evolução do conhecimento e aceitação social da utilização da água de chuva pela população da cidade de João Pessoa-PB

Abstract

Drinking water supply problems have existed for a long time and have worsened due to population growth and the pollution of springs. These occurrences end up generating a greater need to practice the rational use of water. Thus, the use of rainwater arises, with the aim of promoting the use of this resource in situations where the use of potable water is not necessary. In general, this water is collected in buckets or cisterns and stored for later use, in situations such as application in toilets, watering the garden, washing cars, among many other purposes that do not require water of potable quality. For this, depending on the purpose and perception of those who use it, this water may or may not be treated. Therefore, the present work aims to analyze the evolution of the use and knowledge about the use of rainwater, by the population of the city of João Pessoa, in Paraíba, comparing two moments separated by 15 years (2007 and 2022). In line with this, the same questionnaire that was applied by Dias (2007) was used in the present work, in order to have a greater similarity. The results showed that, in general, there was an equivalence with regard to the knowledge that the population has about the use of rainwater, however, it was observed that there was a drastic drop in the use of this resource, with a decrease of 26.11 points percentages (in 2007: 54.37% and in 2022: 28.26%). It was also notorious to verify that the main reason for not using rainwater has changed: while in 2007, the lack of incentive was the main reason for not using rainwater in homes, in 2022 it became the difficulty in capturing water Of rain. It was also observed that there is a very strong relationship, involving the age of the interviewees and their level of knowledge about the use of rainwater. In this way, it was observed that, in a directly proportional way, there is a relationship which, the older the person, the greater chance of presenting knowledge on the subject that individual has. However, with regard to the level of education, there was no longer a relationship between it and knowledge about the subject, since, regardless of the level of education, knowledge about the subject is similar.